The Sands Of Egypt
by Phoenix0192
Summary: He found himself in the baking desert, far from where he should – or feasibly could – have been. Darker forces are stirring, and Yugi, no more an innocent observer to this foreign land, may discover his presence there could do more than he would think...
1. Prologue

Prologue – The first drips of sand in an hour glass

A small boy hid in his room as he heard the other children running about the place, all lost in their happy little worlds. He clutched his meagre box of possessions left to him by his grandfather.

He placed the box before him, and looked at its contents sifting through what was there.

This was all he owned now.

Until the age of 15 Yugi Mutou had lived with his grandpa, both of his parents had died when he was an infant. Of course he had mourned their loss, but he had lost them when he wasn't even a full year old.

Grandpa was different.

His grandpa had raised him, loved him, and cared for him throughout all of his life. Despite his caring nature, Yugi was an introverted and shy character, devoted to his studies.

His appearance was less than normal. Gravity defying tricoloured hair that formed into five, star-like points, it was mainly a rich ebony colour, with each tip being painted a beautiful amethyst. Wide innocent eyes, the same amethyst colour as his hair, were set in a porcelain face.

He had a small stature, only just reaching 5 feet without counting his hair, which added about three to four inches on its own. Both his physical appearance and personality combined had made him an easy a target for bullies, other kids his own age had avoided him like the plague, hoping not to gain the attention of his tormentors.

As such, his grandfather had not only been his guardian, but his protector and only friend... He hadn't even been cold in the soil by the time the social workers had come and taken Yugi to his "new home."

They weren't cruel, those who ran the orphanage, but they were none to gentle either. They were not compassionate people, and believed in strict rules and even stricter punishments. Yugi had spent many nights trying to ignore the hunger in his stomach from having been sent to bed without food for breaking one of their many rules. After leading a very independent life, helping to run his grandfathers shop and earn their livelihood, this new confinement was suffocating. And Yugi was miserable.

He had been allowed to keep very few of his possessions from his grandfather's shop, most had been repossessed to pay for debts and others had been passed off as per his Grandfathers will. The box contained all that he had salvaged from the beautiful and cosy game shop... all that he had left.

Leaning down, he picked up the small bundle of loose papers and books, some new, and some as old at the pyramids themselves. Through his Grandpa's books and papers, Yugi had devoted himself to extending his already vast knowledge of the ancient land. He escaped within his grandfather's legacy and collected knowledge, trying to starve of the reality of him no longer being there, of poor Yugi being alone.

Placing aside the books and paper he withdrew a sizable pile of newer and neater bound books: textbooks.

When Egypt's ancient past could not hold his attention he turned to his second love, learning distant languages from these books. He was a skilful linguist and already fluently spoke five languages not including his own native tongue of Japanese.

Yugi smiled to himself as he remembered how he had first even begun his unusual hobby, picking up one of the older and more tattered text books and hugging it to his chest. It read in English and Ancient Egyptian "_Egyptian Hieroglyphics: learn to read the language of the pyramids_."

Yugi, wanting to know more about his grandfathers past as an archaeologist, had developed a taste for Ancient Egypt and his Grandpa had presented this to him on his tenth birthday. The only copy he could find. Knowing Yugi was learning English at school he had thought it would encourage him in not only his passion but also his studies.

Yugi had taken learning the language like a duck to water. And in the short span of a year he could read and write in both English and Ancient Egyptian, this was as well as his own Japanese. Thrilled with his grandson's success he had gone on to teach him the modern language of Egypt (Egyptian Arabic) and naturally the root dialect of Arabic. Finally Yugi had learnt Afrikaans on his own, simply in fascination of the African continent, and also due to his wish to follow in his grandfathers footsteps to become an archaeologist.

Placing aside the books, Yugi looked at the only two personal items he had kept. Leaning down he withdrew one that brought tears to his eyes: his grandfather's, and now his, duel deck.

The owners of a game shop, he and his Grandpa had played for hours with the cards, together they had built this deck, he had never played with anyone else but the two of them had spent hours upon days building the deck, to make it perfect. Within it was his Grandpa's heart and soul. It was the only part that was left of him.

Placing it reverentially in his lap (not quite able to part contact with the deck) Yugi picked up the final object in the box, and the reason for his foray into his meagre possessions in the first place, the nearly completed millennium puzzle.

He had had to finish it in secret, the other kids constantly teased him about the puzzle and the owner of the orphanage had deemed it an "utter waste of time." But he couldn't stop, he had told his Grandpa that he would finish it and, there to see it or not, he would still keep his promise.

And tonight he would fulfil it.

He had been frustrated at dinner, having almost finished it during the day, but it was over now and no-one would be in to check on him for some time. Yugi smiled to himself as he raised a piece, twisting and turning it to see how it might fit. Slowly and carefully he eventually slipped the last piece into place.

He had done it!

Joy bubbled to the surface in his heart, and he wished to himself that his grandfather could see him now, could see that he had completed what no one had managed to do for – as the legend went – thousands of years.

A bright glow began to emit from the puzzle, apprehensively, Yugi began to place his possessions back in his box, starting with his grandfather's papers. Fearing that his foster mother would see the light and come to investigate.

But he never made it to the box as the light enveloped him so bright that he could no longer see the hand in front of his face. When it finally receded he found himself, not in his room within his foster parents house but sitting in the baking sun in the middle of a desert.

* * *

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of The Sands of Egypt please review and tell me what you think...

Sincerely,  
Phoenix


	2. Chapter 1  Lost

Chapter 1 - Lost

Yugi looked around in order to get his bearings, and he saw sand, lots and lots of sand. In every direction he looked there was nothing but the monotony of dunes, broken only slightly by small rock outlets and the occasional stubborn piece of plant life.

Yugi's first thoughts were that of panic. How had he gotten here? He had been in his cupboard of a room at the orphanage two minutes ago, and now he found himself here, where exactly was _here_?

"Come on Yugi, no time to lose your head now" he told himself, speaking aloud for lack of someone else to talk to. "Now, what would Grandpa say?" he asked the air, looking around he knew the answer.

"Find your bearings."

Yugi stood to get a better look around himself, and felt two items fall out of his lap. Looking down he realised that both his puzzle and his Grandpa's deck were now resting on the sand at his feet.

"Hmm," Yugi mused aloud, "they must have come with me when... I... came... umm, here." Slightly disturbed by his own line of thought, he bent down and gathered his items, placing the deck in his pocket and looping the puzzle around his neck with one of his shoelaces, before slipping it beneath the folds of his jacked – somewhere in his mind he reflected dully that it had been fortunate he had not prepared for bed before completing the puzzle.

Pushing aside that thought he straightened to take in his surroundings.

Yugi noted a rock outlet not far from where he had found himself and headed towards that for a base on where to start. He scooped up a good sturdy stick from the ground along the way, he might have a long way to go before finding someone, and he wouldn't be without a walking stick. When he reached the crest he looked around and saw to his delight a lone traveller, off in the distance. From afar, the only features he could make out were the large star-shaped, ebony hairstyle with crimson points, and the unusual, black clothing.

In his current situation, Yugi didn't think twice before heading off towards the traveller, hoping to find some answers, and maybe a companion to help him. The man appeared to be resting, or perhaps had fallen asleep, Yugi noticed, for as he had approached the man hadn't seemed to move a muscle. Worrying slightly at what he might do if the man was indeed asleep, he slowed down, thinking out his options. Getting more anxious as he came closer and it became apparent that he was dead to the world.

Halting several meters away he worried if he should wake the man or wait for him to wake. Both courses had their dangers. He looked over the man again; he couldn't have been much older than himself.

His eyes travelled further up his form towards the young man's face, where he noticed something _very_ worrying. His thoughts flew off into the distance as sprinted forward the few steps separating them, raising his makeshift staff high and bringing it down just inches from the man's face.

Killing the snake beneath it instantly.

The man's eyes snapped open, and Yugi only had a split second to note their unusual, blood red colour before he had been thrown to the ground with the man standing over him, sword in hand.

He shouted something at him in an unusual tongue. Yugi frowned at him in confusion.

"I don't understand," he said, from habit speaking in Japanese, realising that it wasn't a very common language outside his homeland – and it was very obvious he was no longer in Japan – he repeated the phrase in English, far more commonly spoken.

The man looked at him in confusion and it was evident that he had understood neither of the languages. He barked what was obviously a question at him, in the same tongue as before.

Frowning slightly at the familiarity of it he still couldn't pinpoint what language it was, but from the man's gestures he guessed that his question had something to do with why he had woken up to a stick slamming into the ground before his face.

'_A fair question'_ he said to himself, before gesturing at the dead snake, which still lay underneath his staff.

Realisation dawned on his face as the man realised what had occurred. Quickly he stepped away from Yugi, sheathing his sword and muttering what Yugi interpreted as an apology.

Frowning once more at the familiarity of the language, Yugi stood and brushed himself off.

Noting the curious look of the other, Yugi realised that the man had been expecting some sort of greeting. Looking over his refined and heavily embroidered clothing he realised that, whilst impractical, it meant that the man was probably both very wealthy, and very well know.

He bowed his head slightly in his usual courteous manner, not wanting to offend the only person who could help him.

The man said something again in that elusive language, however now it was even more familiar. Finally Yugi managed to pinpoint it as Arabic, not the language itself – if it had been he would have noticed straight away – but the consonants and vowels were very close. And the man had just said a very good approximation of the ancient Arabic word for hello.

Armed with this new knowledge he tried switching languages once again, this time speaking Arabic.

"Hello," Yugi said, "I'm lost and I don't know how I got here, can you understand me?" realising how much he sounded like a five year old kid, he shrugged off the thought in some hopes of communication. He wasn't as fluent in traditional Arabic as he was, for example, modern Egyptian Arabic.

To his dismay the confused look on the man's face remained. His heart fell. The languages were similar but obviously not similar enough.

Sighing he picked up his stick and drew a map of the world in the sand, making sure to get all of the major continents. He drew a small line next to the main East-Asian continent, and then pointed from himself to the crude representation of his home land.

Crude though it may be, the man seemed to get the idea and dusted out the map before them. In its place he drew another, far more skilled map.

A map he knew well.

The amount of hours he had spent staring at this map wishing he could go there one day. To see what is had been like and to experience what life was like there, thousands of miles away.

It was a map of Egypt, drawn as one would be in one of his Grandpa's ancient books.

His astonishment grew as he watched the man begin to write on the already intricate map, in Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

The man looked up from his map and pointed to a blank area south west of where the capital had been marked. He then gestured to the two of them, pointing to that spot once more. His message was clear, this was where they were, and he was in Egypt.

But something else was exciting Yugi more.

This man knew how to read and write in ancient Egyptian, they had a means to communicate.

* * *

A/N: Thankyou to everyone who reviewed the prologue, it has really inspired me... please keep them comming, I can never get enough of the sound of my own horn. *walks off to deflate head a little*

Please review  
- Phoenix


	3. Chapter 2 Communication

Chapter 2 – Communication

Throughout the process of the day Yugi and the traveller had begun to communicate. At first the traveller had seemed more surprised that Yugi was able to read and write, than his inability to speak the language. Although their means was clumsy Yugi had managed to get across what had happened to him – or a close approximation – Yugi wasn't quite sure that the man completely understood, due to the ambiguous nature of the written form of the ancient Egyptian language.

Added to that fact was that Yugi was not totally sure what had happened in the first place.

However the traveller seemed satisfied with the explanation that Yugi provided and as the sun began to sit lower and lower within the sky the man started his motions to begin making camp for the night. Understanding his intentions Yugi moved to assist him and soon they had two beds rolled out and a comforting fire crackling.

Yugi looked questioningly at the thick blankets that made up the beds, understanding his companion's thoughts the man bent down and wrote several symbols within the sand. Furrowing his brow Yugi translated the symbols in his head. Sitting back with realisation on his face once he had done, _the nights are cold_ the man had written. Yugi nodded his understanding and accepted an extra blanket from him.

"So," Yugi mused out loud, "what am I going to call you?"

The man looked at him questioningly and Yugi laughed at himself for even bothering to ask the question out loud. He searched within his memory for the symbol for names but nothing came to mind. Eventually he shrugged to himself and shook his head at the traveller once more.

Again he found himself glancing at the man's black clothing, although Egyptian in design, the practicality for such a colour was abysmal.

'He must have some sort of reason for it,' he thought to himself, letting his eyes trail once more to that eerily familiar face. Now he had time to study it in more detail he could see the deep furrows in his brow, formed from what Yugi guessed was years of constant worry, or strain. The eyes were angled and seemed almost the colour of blood in the firelight, but there was more than their colour. Those eyes that were shadowed by the uncertain light.

The shadows seemed to suit him, almost clinging to his form as if he were the darkness himself.

Aha, a name. Yami meant darkness in Japanese; at least it gave him a frame of reference to work from.

"So I guess I'll me calling you Yami from now on, you can call me Yugi if you want," he looked over to see the newly dubbed 'Yami' looking at him expectantly again, Yugi sighed, "if you understand a word I was saying that is." He added slightly bitterly.

Yami looked at him confused for a few moments, before getting an idea, kneeling down by the firelight he drew a symbol for a greeting.

"Iiti" Yami said, pointing to the symbol. Yugi looked between him and the symbol.

"Iiti." He parroted, "iiti, iiti means hello?"

In response the man wrote in the sand a new symbol, one for teaching and learning,

"Sba" he said, pointing from himself to Yugi, and then repeating the gesture.

"Sba, teach," Yugi said slowly. "You'll teach me?" Yugi asked understanding. Yami nodded, and then let a smirk break out on his face as he bent to write something else on the ground.

Reading it over, Yugi smiled wryly, "First sleep," he translated.

"Mne Naku" Yami corrected.

Yugi smiled nodding, "Mne Naku," he began to crawl into his makeshift bed before a thought struck him, "Wait how do you say goodnight?" he asked, before realising his gaff, leaning over he wrote the symbols for goodnight. Yami read what he had written.

"Katé noche (kah-teh noh-ch)," he translated for him.

"Well then, Katé noche to you too," Yugi said with a smile. Before they both fell off to sleep.

* * *

Yugi was dreaming.

What it was he was dreaming about he was not sure, but he knew the Yami was there, and his grandfather. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to see clearly, but his vision was clouded and dark, like looking through half closed eyes. He was hovering on the edge of consciousness now as he became more aware of the dream for what it was.

Then he heard words in his ear, or what he thought of as his ear here in the dream. It was his Grandfather's voice, soft and calming as he remembered it. _Relax my child, let your eyes show you what it wants not the other way around._

And without realising it he obeyed, falling into his subconscious and letting go of conscious thought.

The dream began.

_Yami was speaking; or so Yugi thought. There was no sound to this dream, it was like watching a mime take place, but it was not the actions that he saw._

_Yami was in a vast room, he was surrounded by people; all dressed similarly to Yami, but in bright vibrant colours, or was it the people themselves who were vibrant, it seemed more to be the air itself, radiating colour from these people._

_There was a woman, surrounded in a soft emerald green glow; a pale yellow colour highlighted the green at some points, centring around her throat and the centre of her forehead. _

_A young man stood near her, the vibrant violet colour soaked itself through him, but at the eyes he was aged far beyond his years, permeated with a deep brownish-yellow colour, just a hint of bright red flitted its way between the two of them._

_Off to one side, and standing closest to Yami was an exceedingly tall man, Yami (hair included) barely made it halfway up his chest. He was soaked in deep reds and muddied blues, yet within this there were hints of brilliant royal purples and soft blues, flittering just below the surface. The whole colour however was covered by a stifling dirty grey._

_There were some more in the room, an old man who reeked black and deep muddied reds. Another, who was bald, shined an orange-yellow. Several more filled the room, but were in far more muted colours, many showed hints of purple, some a lighter shade of the muddied red. _

_But Yugi's eyes were drawn to Yami. _

_Standing at the centre of the group Yugi had all but forgotten the actions and movements of this vivid world. All that existed were the colours. And Yami was the brightest of all._

_Glowing a deep royal purple, he was almost black, but it was warm and welcoming. The colour was deepest at the centre of his chest just before his heart. Around him shone a deep, clear red, radiating from his eyes and spreading, blending with the general colour of the room._

_But there was another layer to all of these, a deeper colour that Yugi was unsure if he saw it or not. Underneath was rich glowing gold that swam around him just below the surface and, deeper still Yugi could just make out the thinnest of slivers of a pure white glow amidst the tumultuous colours._

_There was a blinding flash of gold._

_Suddenly the colours of the room rolled and Yugi's vision swam with red, and where Yami had stood in his glowing presence became a dark pit, sucking towards it the other colours of the room. _

_But this was no longer Yami standing there, instead a taller version stood there, his eyes a deep murky red, that bled its way through the darkness, a wry smirk built its way upon his features, they were hardened and shadowed, scarred with the memories of battles and death. _

_Upon his brow was a scar, a resounding crown. From him bled the shadows of the room, consuming both the light and darkness alike. _

_Yugi felt himself fading, collapsing, as the shadows reached him, closer and closer._

_They touched his shoulder._

Yugi awoke with a scream.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think...

And if your interested here's some info to translate Yugi's dream:

**AURA COLOUR MEANINGS**

**Deep Red**: Grounded, realistic, active, strong will-power, survival-oriented.

**Muddied red**: Anger (repelling)

**Clear red**: Powerful, energetic, competitive, sexual, passionate

**Orange-Yellow**: Creative, intelligent, detail oriented, perfectionist, scientific.

**Light or pale yellow:** Emerging psychic and spiritual awareness; optimism and hopefulness; positive excitement about new ideas.

**Gold Energy:** Gold is intimately linked with Divinity and those gods associated with the Sun. It symbolizes wealth and success.

**Dark brownish yellow or gold:** A student or one who is straining at studying; overly analytical to the point of feeling fatigued or stressed; trying to make up for "lost time" by learning everything all at once.

**Bright emerald green:** A healer, also a love-centred person

**Yellow-Green**: Creative with heart, communicative

**Blue:** Relates to the throat, thyroid. Cool, calm, and collected. Caring, loving, love to help others, sensitive, intuitive.

**Soft blue**: Peacefulness, clarity and communication; truthful; intuitive

**Dark or muddy blue:** Fear of the future; fear of self-expression; fear of facing or speaking the truth

**Violet:** Relates to crown, pineal gland and nervous system. The most sensitive and wisest of colours. This is the intuitive colour in the aura, and reveals psychic power of attunement with self. Intuitive, visionary, futuristic, idealistic, artistic, magical.

**Dark Royal purple: **Purple is royalty. A mysterious colour, purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. Can have both positive and negative connotations, is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool colour, can boost imagination or creativity, can also show moodiness and brooding

**Dirty Gray Overlay**: Blocking energies. Guardedness


	4. Chapter 3 New arrivals

Chapter 3 – New arrivals.

Commotions within the market place were not rare occurrences, a fact for which a certain Joey Wheeler was thanking his lucky stars. Not a person was surprised to see his small body darting through the crowds, followed close behind by a cluster of guards that the general population did not deign to part for, or to stop their day to day business to assist.

Joey slipped into an alley way off to one side, easily scaling the rough, mud-brick walls of the houses, and disappeared off onto one of the rooftops that he knew would not rat him out. Looking down at his hand he smiled at the size of the jewel he had managed to snag, he knew for a fact that the jewel had been stolen by the shop owner in the first place he felt no guilt in relieving the rich merchant of his tidy profit. Nor did he care too much for the jewels' original owner – a wealthy noble or something of the like who had abundances of jewels just like this one.

With an expert eye he tried to guess the value of the jewel from its size, turning it this way and that he realised it was purer than he had thought. A jewel of this calibre had to have come from either one of the temples or the palace itself.

He cursed, that meant that he had to get rid of the jewel soon, or he was a marked man. Marked for death that is.

Joey thought quickly, if it was from a temple then if it made its own way back there many would be none the wiser, and any trace that could lead back to him would be light, however the probability of getting caught was far higher.

He sighed, before peering over the roof to check that the coast was clear. His best bet would be to slip it back to the merchant and let nature take its course. Important jewels like this were marked, and would probably be found quickly, but he needed to move soon. If he were found with the jewel he wouldn't be alive very long. Probably just long enough for the guards to take him up to the palace for sentencing – maybe not even that. He wasn't very well liked by the guards of the city they would probably just not bother and kill him there.

A wry smile worked its way over his face at this new challenge, his unfailing good humour making itself known. He could do this, he'd lived through worse before.

Slipping from the roof he made his way back to the market place, careful not to be seen and keeping an eye out for any guards that might still be on the prowl. He managed to make it to the street opposite the stand without incident, carefully slipping through the crowd his eyes widened when he saw a small patrol rounding the corner not far from him. But he knew that to change direction now would be a mistake. Continuing on he made it to the table, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the jewel leave contact with his skin. It was gone.

As he did so, he made eye contact with the merchant at the stand. Between their eyes they shared a silent conversation; that Joey knew where the jewel had come from. The merchant nodded accepting the silent impasse, he could not call the attention of the guards for fear of revealing himself, and Joey in his own right could not expose him because he in turn had stolen the jewel.

Of course fate tends to ignore such complicated anomalies, choosing instead to act bluntly and with its usual lack of bias as to who accepts the blame.

A shout came from behind him and Joey wheeled around, to see the guards from before heading straight towards him, he dived behind the cart of a nearby stall in a vain attempt to hide, but it was to no avail. The cart flew off to the side as the young lad continued to try to evade capture, but it was too late and he found himself in the iron grip of the captain.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A thieving little rat, eyeing those pretty jewels there I see." The guard sneered.

Joey just glared in response, not trusting himself to lie convincingly to the guard, running dodging, heck even fighting his way out he could do. But Joey's tongue was anything but silver, he was blunt and coarse in his speech, which was not the best approach to get _out_ of trouble.

More of the guards had gathered now, and one of them turned to the merchant still standing behind his stall, his face pale with fear. A thin sheen of sweat covered his brow, and it was obvious he wanted nothing to do with the guards. Joey was surprised to see that the look of fear was not directed at the guards around him, but at Joey himself. It was only then that he realised the bargaining chip he held with the knowledge he had gained.

He flashed his eyebrows briefly at the merchant in a look that said _if you want me to keep quiet, do something._

Getting the message the merchant stepped smoothly forward, placing his hand on the guards arm.

"Now, now sir, this young lad was doing nothing wrong, he was returning to me one of my items that had...fallen from my possession." The man smiled convincingly sweeping his hand across the table.

If Joey had had an arm free he would have smacked himself in the face. Of all the people in this town, _all_ the people, he had to have help from the only one who didn't know how to deal with the guards. Seriously was this guy a certified idiot? He had pointed directly to the jewel that Joey had returned, that is, directly to the _stolen from the temple_ jewel that was the whole reason for this mess in the first place.

Of course what happened next could have been predicted by the village idiot: one of the guards recognised the jewel.

"Sir! It's the missing jewel that the high priest ordered found." One of them exclaimed, Joey groaned, the High Priest? seriously? This day just kept on getting better and better.

"Arrest him!" the captain exclaimed, Joey realising his chance tried to twist out of his grip, but the captain was ready for that, "oh no you don't son. You're gonna come with us as well, you've been a thorn in my side for far too long." The smirk on the captain's face was unmistakeable and Joey felt a slip of ice cold dread run down his spine.

He'd just escaped a life of slavery; he didn't want to go back.

* * *

A/N: And the plot thickens... Please review O.O


	5. Chapter 4 Learning

Chapter 4 – Learning

Yugi quickly stifled his scream as he awoke, before he realised that it was Yami's hand on his shoulder not those haunting wisps of shadows. He was shaking, he realised, from the intensity of the dream. He took a deep breath to quell his pounding heart and frayed nerves. Yami shot him a look of concern but Yugi shook his head indicating he was fine. When the look on Yami's face refused to subside Yugi grabbed the stick from before and drew the symbols for sleep and demon's, _a nightmare._

Yami looked at him with concern before saying softly "Nakuré nrw," he looked up at Yugi reassuringly, and dusted the symbol away. He spoke again, writing as he did for Yugi to translate.

"Tenoh hobéheire," _It's alright now, _Yugi translated, or near enough to. He looked at the sky to find that it was still dark, the early pre-dawn light had yet to grace the horizon. He looked curiously at Yami as he prepared to travel, to find he was looking at him expectantly, hoping for him to follow.

Compliantly he rolled up his small pile of blankets and threw it over his shoulder, bending to take some of the supplies, he was surprised at how little there was there. He tapped on Yami's shoulder to get his attention, then he bent to write in the sand; _where are we going?_

Yami responded first with his usual translation and then he wrote his reply, speaking as he did so.

"Loasm," s_upplies._

Yugi nodded, looking down as Yami bent to write once more, Yugi frowned at the longer sentence, he had no trouble reading it, he was fluent in the language after all, dead or no. But it made it much harder to pick the individual words with the differences that Ancient Egyptian had to Arabic. He got it eventually.

He had said: _There is a town nearby with food and supplies._

"Belda," he said softly to himself, "town."

They set out soon after, just as the first rays of light hit the horizon, the heat of the sun's appearance was yet to make itself known. This, Yugi guessed, was the reason behind their early morning.

Suppressing a yawn Yugi kept pace with Yami, as they walked they conversed in small one word sentences of nouns and basic adjectives. Yugi was thrilled to realise the more they talked the easier it became to identify with the language.

Yugi was no stranger to learning a language but never had he picked one up this quickly. By the end of the afternoon he could at least understand most of what Yami said, even if he couldn't really reciprocate. But listening helped, and whether he would admit it or not, Yami's deep, baritone voice was comforting to him. It held assurance and a strong undertone of authority that made Yugi feel safe and protected. An almost alien feeling to him now, he realised sombrely as he tried to think back to when he had last felt that way. His grandfather had been the last person to make him feel safe, but that was gone now, ever since he had been taken away from that life he had not had any semblance of that comfort...not from anybody.

So why did this stranger, whose name he didn't even actually know, give him back that comfort. Yugi shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. _Concentrate on learning to talk_, he told himself, _the sooner you can communicate the faster answers will come._ Yeah, that sounded suitably like what his Grandpa would say.

He realised that his musings had caused him to fall behind, and that a smiling Yami was looking over his shoulder at him. He hurried to catch up, a small smile still twitching at his cheeks.

* * *

The traveller, real name Atemu Sennen, looked down at his young companion, a _very _unexpected turn of events indeed. He watched the youngling stride alongside him. His fair skin and small stature marked him as not belonging to his people, but his beauty was unquestioned.

Despite the differences he still felt his heart break at the similarities that were there, there was no question about it. Heba and this boy would have shared many traits, the hair was the same, right down to the small blonde bang in the middle of his forehead that refused to choose which way it would hang. He would be willing to bet that this boy was also older than he appeared with his small stature, and that he agonised over it as much as Heba had done.

But he was not Heba; he could see it in the innocence of the younglings' eyes that he hadn't grown up in the towns of Egypt. He still looked around himself with amazement at the world, _he must have come from very far away_, he thought to himself, _it's as if he is a gift from the Gods themselves._

For the first time in a long time he felt a wry smile grace itself to his lips, and for once it didn't feel like a ghastly mask, used to fool those who knew no better about him. This was why he had exiled himself to the desert in the first place, to cleanse his soul of the mourning. After his loss he had fallen so far that not even the light of Ra had been able to bring him out.

Yes, this had been what he wanted to achieve, however this was definitely _not_ the way he had been expecting.

For most of the day he had been speaking purely to help the youngling to grow accustom to the sound of the language. However he found it extremely soothing to simply talk about their surroundings, pointing out various objects, discussing the weather.

The insubstantial small talk helped to lift the weight that his words usually carried, and eased the burden that he carried to no end. He smiled once more, this youngling was helping him by his very presence, yes he must have been a gift from the Gods.

He slowed his walk as he realised that the youngling had fallen behind. He looked over his shoulder to see him hurrying to catch up. When he did, the older gestured to the sight at the crest of the hill they had reached.

He went to explain to him the Egyptian translation for him but the boy sensing his thoughts held up his hand, as he seemed to be searching for the word himself.

"Town," he said slowly unsure of his choice of words, "supplies here?" he asked in conformation. Atemu nodded, his surprise evident, this boy was exceptionally sharp to be able to pick up a language so quickly, even one he knew the written form for, it would be the equivalent of reciting the dictionary, verbatim.

The youngling beamed before that frown of concentration came up once more, "money," he said eventually though it took some moments for Atemu to realise what he was asking.

"No need to worry young one," he said, curious to see if he would understand him talking in full sentences, "I have the money with me, here." He patted a pouch hidden within his clothes, to help get across the message.

Again that familiar frown before he bent to write: _no need to worry, you have money, there...yes?_ and Atemu nodded. Surprised when the youngling bent to write again, _and I am not young!_

Atemu laughed at that, "sorry," he said. He bent, and wrote beneath what his companion had written, _say it_.

Yugi looked at him curiously before the frown made a reappearance, thinking once more he slowly pieced together the sentence in his mind.

"Young, I am not." He said, unsure. He shook his head, "I am not young." He thought for several more moments before apparently giving up and writing in the sand once more. _16_.

"Sixteen," Atemu translated, before counting off the numbers on his fingers, one through twenty, merely repeating the motions of 1-10 twice.

The youngling nodded then parroted him, and his actions. Atemu nodded, then looked toward the sun, "we need to make camp," he said, after the long day he had grown accustomed to simply voicing his thoughts, "Here is as good a spot as any, not too near that we'll get bothered."

Sparing a quick glance at his companion he noted that he at least seemed to understand that they were staying here for the night. Quickly together they set up a small camp similar to the night before however the fire was larger due to two pairs of hands collecting it throughout the process of the day. It tugged at Atemu's heartstrings to see his companion using Heba's old bed roll and blanket, though he thanked the impulse that had led him to take it along.

After everything was set Atemu left the youngling with clear instructions to tend to the fire and allow it to burn down to some useable coals for them to cook on as he intended to buy some fresh meat at the market. He headed off to town with his few precious items on his person, as well as being armed with his sword, leaving his companion in the relative safety of the camp.

Confident as they were, neither saw the two dark figures lurking in the darkness far from the light of the fire. Watching as he left his charge alone.

* * *

A/N: Please review


	6. Chapter 5 Plotting

Chapter 5 – Plotting

Joey's head hung dejectedly as he was dragged up the path to the palace. But the captain paid him no mind as he and his men focused on the merchant that they had captured, the youth had all of one guard on him, the merchant three.

Then again, the merchant had taken out two of them in a single strike when he had been discovered so perhaps three was going a bit light.

A small frown touched the captain's brow at the memory; the seemingly defenceless man had pulled some sort of device from his cloak, temporarily blinding everyone. Before anyone had realised what had happened two of the guards were unconscious and third had the old man pinned against the ground. A lucky shot on the guards' behalf, when he had moved to avoid the blast he and the merchant had collided.

Mere luck that was what had trapped him. The old man had proved himself every bit the skilled thief that had stolen the jewel from one of the most protected places in the high temple.

But he had been searched and disarmed so the captain felt no need to pull anymore men off of the regular patrols. Shackled as he was the youth posed no threat, and he was sure if the need arose that they could handle the old man without having to worry too much.

They approached the main gates and the captain stepped forward, intending on taking the prisoners to the dungeons in order to wait for trial. Making a mental note to ensure the old man had extra precautions put in place. Disarmed or not, the man had proved himself slippery and he couldn't allow a crime of such a level to go unpunished.

Conventionally they really shouldn't even have bothered with the boy but this was a personal capture. The boy was, if anything, as slippery as the old man. For years he had been a walking embarrassment to the guards of the city and he was looking forward to the bragging rights of finally capturing him.

Not to mention those long hours that he would be waiting in the dungeons, alone and far from the prying eyes of supervising officers. A place where he would pay for the embarrassment that he had caused him and his men.

"I've got two prisoners for the dungeon, I'll put them there myself if you'd be kind enough to let us in." He told the guard at the gate, a sergeant. Although technically in rank the captain was higher, the sergeant was of the royal guard and therefore a higher calibre. So a certain amount of respect was required.

"You can take them straight to the throne room, high priest Seth is there right now," The sergeant said, signalling another over to help open the palace gates.

"We couldn't take that liberty from you better to put 'em in the dungeon, and have it pass though the channels." The captain said desperately, his chance of revenge was slipping away, and he wouldn't let it pass without a fight.

"The High Priest gave _very_ specific orders," the sergeant replied with some feeling, giving an idea as to how specific these orders had been. "All those who have been arrested must be tried by the court as soon as is possible after they're brought to the palace."

"Aye, I agree with that especially for this one," the captain gestured towards the old man, "but this one here is nothing but an urchin I scraped off the alleyways, he doesn't need the bother of the High Priest."

"Captain, you have your orders, take the two through to the palace." The sergeant snapped, and the captain could only bow his head in submission, _oh well_, he thought, _I can always get to him after the sentencing. The loss of an arm would be fun to watch._

The gates opened and the captain and his men continued through into the palace walls.

Joey had to suppress a smirk at hearing the captain's complaints. It was obvious to him what the captain had planned to do, his reputation as a smart ass had lead him to make many enemies within the ranks of the ordinary day to day guards that patrolled the city.

This would usually have been a point of worry to Joey; it was no laughing matter what people could get away with behind closed doors. But it seemed that his plans were to be foiled, now all Joey had to do was get out of here with both of his arms intact. He knew the punishment for theft; however he hadn't been arrested for thieving... Joey gulped. He hoped it would be enough.

* * *

High Priest Seth sat upon a large high backed chair positioned just in front, and slightly to the left, of the throne. His disdainful mouth was turned down in, well, distain as he saw the fool captain and his two prisoners enter the throne room.

The Captain came forward and knelt slightly in a clumsy bow, he raised himself from the bow to step forward and address the High Priest directly. "High Priest, I have for you two criminals captured from the market place, thieves."

Seth sighed, this had to be the fourth arrest this week made on poor children and elderly folk who had no family and we're unable to work, he was about to dismiss the trial all together when the captain – for perhaps the first time in his life – said something interesting.

"And we've uncovered the jewel that was stolen from the High temple within their possession," the Captain finished, a triumphant grin upon his face.

Joey's jaw dropped.

"WHAT!" he shouted before his brain caught up with his mouth, "I didn't have no damn jewel. I was standing beside the god damn shop! what the he-" He got no further as the back of one of the guards gloved hands cuffed him on the back of the head effectively cutting off his little rant.

"Thank you for that," Seth said sardonically, "however, is what this youth says true?" His eyes darted to the Captain fast enough to see the panicked look flit across his face before it smoothed once more into a confidant mask.

"Of course not, High Priest, he is nothing but a worthless street kid, I believe that these two may have been working together on the theft of your jewel-"

"Captain," Seth cut him off, "may I remind you that you are merely a guard, and your job is to apprehend law breakers, it is my job and that of the court of the Pharaoh to pass judgement on the apprehended. And I would like to focus upon more serious matters than your personal vendettas." Seth's cold tone cut the Captain to the core, his mouth opened to make a retort but common sense kicked in and informed him that that would be a _very_ poor career move indeed.

He shut his mouth quickly with a snap.

Satisfied Seth turned to the old man, surrounded by three rather uneasy looking guards, his keen eyes narrowed taking in the guards' ready stance and the old man's own hunched form. It was not curled in the protective manner of one afraid, he noted, but more like a tiger, awaiting his opportunity to spring.

"What's your name old man," he called clearly, frowning, waiting to see if his suspicions were correct.

"Who are you calling old," a youthful voice called out and Seth's eye's narrowed.

"BAKURA!" he said angrily. "Guards." Four of the palace guards appeared at the door. "I want you to relieve these men in their duty over this prisoner." The four moved to do as he asked when the captain stepped forward.

"What? What are you doing? My men are fully equipped to deal with this prisoner, we caught him didn't we?" he shouted, petulantly.

"And I am guessing that was a fluke, but you and your men do not have the authority nor the training to justify leaving you with a high security prisoner." Seth said firmly, frowning at the guard's lack of discipline.

"Fine, we'll take the boy to the dungeons then." He began to walk out when Seth's voice stopped him.

"I see no need to waste more time trying what is obviously at most a petty nuisance," Joey opened his mouth to rebuke this...then thought better of it. Meanwhile Seth continued, "I see no reason he should be here any further."

"But, High Priest, the boy is a proven delinquent. He can't be released back onto the streets, even as only a 'minor nuisance,' by the law of the Pharaoh." The captain smiled triumphantly, sensing he had scored a point.

Seth frowned, to be honest he was unsure why he was even arguing with the man, but he was well aware of what would occur if the boy was kept in the dungeons over night. That and the captain was a notorious pain in the ass to both himself and the councilmen with his 'views' on how the city should be run. "Very well, escort him to my chambers where he will be given the duties of a personal slave. That will be all."

The captain looked outraged, "what! But–"

"I said that will be all, Captain."

Seth watched with a steely eye as two of the guards tugged the youth to his feet and led him slowly from the room. Once the palace doors were shut, Seth turned to glare at Bakura. Their gazes met for a long moment before Bakura shrugged and looked away. Seth turned his gaze to the guards, "it's okay now, release him." The guards bowed their heads and did as they were told, stepping back to a safe distance, none of them taking their eyes off the thief.

Seth cleared his throat, "you said that you could destroy the jewel," he said with a superior tone to his voice.

"No, if you remember correctly I said I knew a _way_ to destroy the jewel." Bakura replied, rising to the tone with his own mocking, "the stall was a cover to hide it before the guy who could do the actual job came and got it."

Seth rose from his elevated position and came down to stand level with Bakura, but with his immense height Seth still towered over the other.

"You never told me that there would be others involved in this," he said.

"You were never meant to know. Before you ask yes the Pharaoh knew I couldn't do it - he asked - but if he hadn't of disappeared on us he would have been the one to break it," Bakura said, a touch of bitterness.

"Bakura you know why he left." Seth said softly.

"Yeah and I don't blame him."

"So," Seth said, returning to his usual emotionless, business like voice, "what do you intend to do now? You have been caught by a city guard, word will spread fast if he notices you again or there is a cover up..." Seth trailed his voice off.

"Well then, I could just escape, I'd throw in killing Captain Asshole for free if you want." Bakura laughed, Seth looked at him coldly, "joking," Bakura said sullenly.

"You already know what I have to do," Seth said coolly.

Bakura sighed, "yeah, yeah I know, serves me right for getting caught," he muttered.

"Guards, take him down to the dungeons."

* * *

A/N: heh heh heh, what are Seth and Bakura planning? Well review and you'll find out sooner :D


	7. Chapter 6 Night amongst the red sand

A/N: to save confusion I am going to say this now, the perspective is gonna jump from how Yugi sees it to how Atemu sees it, the way you can tell which is which is Atemu will be called Yami in Yugi's perspective because that's how Yugi sees him, and Yugi will become "the boy" (mainly) because Atemu doesn't know his name yet. Aside from that, Atemu can understand the language, Yugi can't just another clue. Finally it will also – quite commonly – begin with "Atemu..." or "Yugi..." for their respective view points.

Anyway on with the chappie...

* * *

Chapter 6 – Night amongst the red sand.

Yugi sat by the campfire, smiling to himself watching the small yellow tongues of flame lick at the wood that they had gathered throughout the day.

For want of something to do he began to recite over and over the words he knew in this new language, mixing and matching phrases to become accustomed to the sound. Where he couldn't fit a word in, or it didn't quite work, he substituted Arabic. It seemed to be a close enough language that most of the words that he spoke Yami had been able to translate.

He frowned again as he wrote some more words in the sand, trying to work out the pronunciation from what he had gathered so far from its links with Arabic. (A/N: think of how certain Latin words sound similar to their English translations)

So immersed was he in his task he didn't hear the sound of two men approaching until they were close enough for the firelight to hit them.

Yugi looked up startled at the new arrivals. They were each bare-chested and wore a white shenti about their waist, Gold armbands circled their biceps and each wore excessive jewellery. Both were exceedingly tall, one was very thin and the other fat with a full beard upon his face. That was not what drew Yugi's eyes, however, he was staring at the two naked blades they held aloft in their hands.

Yugi stood uncertainly, not trusting himself to speak. One of them shot something at him in rapid Egyptian, too fast for him too catch. He merely shook his head hoping to get across his situation. The two looked between themselves and the other said something now, seeming to be mocking him. The tone caught Yugi's attention, he'd heard that before far too many times. It was the same tone that would be used by the bullies that used to beat him up, and was always followed directly by a rather painful experience.

He started backing away, fear beginning to show in his eyes.

"No," he said, not caring if they couldn't understand him, "no please..."

* * *

(A/N a slight time jump backwards, these events are happening simultaneously with what just happened.)

Atemu searched among the markets, a small scarf pulled up to his face to ward of the smell and prying eyes. The shopping itself was rather routine, but it was the gossip and general talk that he was paying attention too and it was not good.

He stopped by a fruit stall and pretended to look over it as he listened to the salesman in charge of it speak.

"No, it's been all over, they're not random attacks."

"But c_hildren_? That doesn't seem right," a lady standing next to him said softly. "I mean why take them, there hasn't been even a whisper about them being...passed on at all, has there?" She stumbled slightly at the thought of "passing on" a child as she put it.

"Nothing. Don't think that the palace hasn't heard about it either, just the other day four guards showed up poking around for information. And not just any guards, _palace_ guards. I mean that's some big guns right there, and with that jewel being stolen..."

Atemu walked away, no longer wishing to hear anymore.

He knew that he had been out of contact for a long time but it seemed that things had gotten worse in his absence. He sighed, he knew what he had to do, but he wasn't ready to return just yet. His thoughts turned to Yugi and his fanciful musings from earlier on. Maybe he was a gift from the gods, sent so that he would be able to go back, back to all of that heartache.

He turned and headed for the camp, his head full of thoughts.

As he approached he was stopped by the sound of voices coming from the camp. He ducked down to avoid being seen and listened to what was being said.

"Well we seem to have found ourselves a treasure here haven't we?" a callous voice asked, Atemu's eyes widened as he realised what this man was talking about. He rose cautiously and the men obliviously continued their rant.

"Oh, so he doesn't agree? Hey Cairn, well we'll have to convince him then." The voice mocked this time, it was coming from the other man.

Another voice this one soft and pleading said something in a different language,_ the boy_ Atemu thought. He was close enough to see now; the two had their features highlighted by the dancing firelight. They stood over the boy their swords raised, each with a demonic look upon his face.

Atemu charged forward, sword in hand. He deftly twisted his wrist and with a clash intercepted the two swords on their downward stroke.

Unprepared as they were for the resistance the two felt their swords torn from their grasp. They turned to see the newcomer and paled in fear, they dropped to their knees in a deep bow.

Atemu Sennen standing there in the firelight was a sight to behold. His raised sword was tinted a blood red and seemed to dance and flicker in the uncertain light. The rouged tips of his hair rose around his head like a majestic crown, his eyes were a blood red, his expression furious.

The two shook in fear where they knelt, they knew who was before them, and what he had power to do.

"Explain to me," Atemu said slowly, enunciating clearly, his anger making his voice shake slightly, "why I would find two guards of the palace and the _Pharaoh_, slinking around in the night and praying on a _child_." He stopped, too angry to continue.

"Pharaoh, we had no idea, please-" The fat one began only to be cut off by Atemu

"Silence!" he shouted, the first bowed his head once more whilst the other curled in tighter still shaking. "You both know the punishment for a guard who breaks the law," he said slowly drawing his sword.

"NO," the thin one cried uncoiling from his position and diving at Atemu a knife in hand. With one smooth movement Atemu brought his sword between him and the guard, taking him in the throat.

Until this point Yugi had been watching in a horrified amazement at the skilled motions of Atemu's sword. He felt his stomach churn at the sight of blood and turned his head away, to see the other man coming up behind him.

"Yami!" Yugi cried in warning, almost of its own violation, even without looking Atemu's sword whipped around and took the other man in the chest.

He stood there panting, the night seeming oddly quiet after the panic of the last few moments. Atemu looked at the dead and dying men at his feet, he bent slowly reading out to the fat guard, pushing his hand against the wound in his chest. He leant forward to the guard's ear.

"Why is it that you are here, no guards have been sent for gathering information and I do not appreciate a false guise." He whispered harshly.

"W-why should I tell you?" the guard replied weakly, "I'm gonna die in a few moments anyway, I might just want to frustrate you."

Atemu smirked at the weak threat, clicking his tongue at him condescendingly, "you should know better than that, I could keep you alive for days if I wanted to, constantly in pain. And then there's your _soul_, you know what I can do with that..." Atemu let the words hang in the guards mind, he could see the sheen of sweat forming and the paleness of his face growing as fear and blood loss combined. "Tick tock, tick tock, time is running out."

"They call themselves Kage," Yugi's head snapped up at the familiar word, but Atemu did not see it.

"And who is 'they,'?"

"It doesn't matter, you can't stop them, and powerful little children like the one you've got there are gonna keep disappearing until they have enough." The man chuckled weakly, his breath becoming more ragged until finally...it stopped.

"No, NO! What are you talking about? NO!" Atemu swore violently and shook the man until a small hand was placed over his.

"Dead," the boy said clearly to him before putting a significant distance between him and the man. Atemu stood and quickly followed him.

"Wait," he called "how did you do that?"

The boy gave him a confused, and somewhat frightened look and Atemu sighed before writing his question rapidly in the sand. Still confused the boy bent and wrote a reply.

_Do what?_

_With my sword I didn't do that, you shouted something and my arm moved._ Yugi looked up at him startled, Yami thought he had done something to him.

_I didn't do anything._ Yugi insisted, Yami said something in Egyptian again and Yugi guessed he was swearing.

_You better not be lying to me._

_Why would I lie? What was that about anyway?_

Atemu realised that the boy wouldn't have understood a word that was said. This in actual fact was not strictly true as he soon discovered.

_I heard something that I recognised, what is shadow?_

Atemu looked up at him confused.

"Kage," the boy said taping at the word 'shadow.'

_That's what it means._ Atemu asked, dread already forming in the pit of his stomach.

The boy nodded, and the dread in Atemu's stomach solidified into a cold hard stone.

_Why?_ Yugi asked writing clearly, worry written on his face.

_It means that the shadow's are back, and the shadow realm is open._

* * *

A/N: Please review... *insert Yugi's puppy dog eyes here* you know you cant resist them.


	8. Chapter 7 Priests and Pasts

Chapter 7 – Priests and Pasts

Joey struggled as he was dragged from the throne room, he knew what was coming and he wanted to be on his own two feet for it. _At least they can't kill me_. He thought bitterly. He was surprised when they made it all the way to a large and very fancy bedroom before they finally threw him to the floor.

The captain turned to one of his men. "Make sure we're not disrupted okay?" he said maliciously. The guard nodded before heading to the door, stepping outside and locking it shut. The captain's gaze returned to Joey "Now for your turn, if you think that you could humiliate us for all those years then get off scot-free your wrong."

Joey gulped and went to ready himself, only to find his arms pinned behind him. "What the hell, aren't you gonna even let me defend myself? That aint a fair fight," Joey cried, outraged.

The two guards laughed, "this isn't a fight kid, it's punishment" the captain said, before pulling back his fist and slamming it straight into his face.

What followed was one of the worst beatings that Joey had ever experienced.

* * *

Seth strode confidently to his chambers, he never walked any other way, he believed in always showing strength and never losing that mask, but inside he was tumultuous.

What was he going to do with this boy? He had sent him to his chambers on an impulse, trying to get the captain out of the room before he dealt with Bakura. He could go along with the excuse he gave the captain and keep the boy as a personal servant but he was very self sufficient and had no need for such service, but where would he go then?

A thought also struck him as he approached the door to his chambers, why did he care? Despite his comments in the throne room he knew the boy was a thief. Who was he to care about someone who wouldn't even do a decent days work to feed himself. He sighed as he opened the door.

Seth gasped.

On the ground before him was the youth from before, bruises littered his body and face, his limbs were sprawled around him, the shoulder twisted at an odd angle, and a steady drip of blood seeped from his mouth.

Abandoning his nonchalant attitude Seth ran forward, his heart in his mouth. He knelt beside the youth who – now he saw him up close – was not that much younger than himself. He shook his shoulder gently and watched the boy wake up.

"What the– " he said, his words slightly slurred, before cutting himself off at seeing the face inches from his own. He flinched backwards instinctively before grabbing his head in his hands.

"Dizzy?" Seth asked. The boy nodded before grabbing his head again, Seth laughed softly at the action earning a glare from the boy.

"You're gonna need to come with me to see Isis, you may have a concussion." Seth said, back in his normal composure. He held out his hand to help the youth to stand, after a moments consideration he took it.

A thought struck him as he left the room with the youth behind him, surprisingly steady on his feet.

_Now why on earth did I do that?_

* * *

Half an hour, introductions, and a trip to Isis' healing chamber later and Joey and the High priest were in his chambers once again. Seth took him through to show him the servant's quarters that were connected to his room, and explained to him what duties he would be expected to do.

"Wait a minute," Joey said finally, "so basically I have to do what you say, whateva you say, an' say stuff you to anyone else." Seth's eyebrow twitched at his crass way of putting it but nodded none the less.

"That is excepting the Pharaoh and say it... less obtusely" Seth corrected, receiving a confused look from the boy. He sighed at the youth's lack of vocabulary, "be more polite," he translated.

Joey nodded in understanding.

"Now due to your injuries I do not expect you to begin your duties for at least a week, however in that time for obvious reasons you are confined to this and my own room, unless accompanied by me."

"Stop that." Joey said suddenly, Seth looked down surprised at the reaction, he was merely trying to be considerate. _That_ thought stooped him, he hadn't even noticed. Seth shook himself and concentrated on the youth before him.

"Stop what?" Seth asked, astounded.

Joey looked up, a hard look in his eyes, "the nice act, drop it." Seth's eyes widened fractionally in shock, but Joey continued speaking seemingly to himself. "I don't want to be friends with you, so I would really be happier if you'd let me hate you in peace. I already did that one. Loving the asshole who kept me locked up, and that ended with him six foot under."

Seth struggled for a minute to get himself under control, Joey seemed to see the internal conflict and laughed to break the tension. But it was hollow, cold.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill him." Joey looked off, a million miles away, "no he ended up going over a bridge, when he was trying to stop me doing the same. Damn bastard, my whole life he was trying to beat the life out of me, and he ended by saving it. I'm sure you can appreciate the irony."

Seth allowed a humourless smile to touch his face. "Very well" was his only reply as he headed for his door. Finally he turned as he reached the doorway.

"And it's not an act, funnily enough. The first time I'm genuine, and that person's the first not to just eat up my words like honey." Seth smiled bitterly, "guess you're not the only one prone to irony today. I'll be back in a minute."

And with that he shut the door and left.

* * *

A/N: Please review, I was not happy with how Seth came out in this chaper and would love to hear your comments on how I could improve him to be more in character.


	9. Chapter 8 Explanations

A/N Same deal with the perspectives switching from Yugi to Atemu as chapter 6 – if you need a refresh, check that.

* * *

Chapter 8 – Explanations

Yugi and Yami walked for a good two hours before Yami finally had to admit to defeat. The full day of walking through the desert had tired the two and as it is they would have to set out soon in the pre dawn light.

Yugi sunk to the ground gratefully and Yami grimaced at the action thinking that he had pushed them too far, Yugi smiled at him to show he was alright, only tired. Yami smiled back and went to start the fire, they had carried a burning branch with them for light, so it was merely a matter of arranging the sticks, he conversed briefly with Yugi about helping him, and quietly giving him direction on what to do.

His brow furrowed, the language seemed to be becoming easier for him to grasp as they both sat down in the sand. Finally after thinking for several moments he phrased the question he wanted to ask in his mind.

"What were they calling you back there?" Yugi asked, his speech was disjointed but coherent none the less.

Atemu sighed, he had known that this would come up eventually, but secretly he had been enjoying not having someone pandering on his very whim for the sake of a title.

"Yes, it was what you're thinking, the called me Pharaoh. My name is Atemu Sennen, son of Aknamkanon Sennen and Fourth generation of the Seventh Dynasty of Egypt."

Yugi sat and looked at him stunned. Atemu was surprised and also secretly pleased when the boy didn't dive into a bow, but just looked at him blinking.

Yugi couldn't believe what he was hearing, Pharaoh. Pharaoh!

Slowly as if in a dream he bent and wrote in the sand to confirm what he had been told.

_You are Pharaoh. _He looked up to confirm that he had heard correctly, paling slightly in realisation, he nodded gulping.

"Right," he said, making a conscious effort to speak, "am I supposed to bow or something?"

Atemu chuckled, "I would rather you not, there's not council here breathing down my neck so no need to bother about protocol."

"So your names, Atemu?" Yugi asked.

"Yes, and can I ask your name?"

"Yugi." He said shortly, still a little distracted.

"Hmm, Yugi," Atemu said slowly, seeing how it sat on his tongue. He had noticed that a lot of words in the boys, Yugi's, language fell rather awkwardly in his mouth, not being at all similar to his own. But 'Yugi' seemed to sit just right.

Yugi himself couldn't stop a small smile dancing across his mouth at hearing Yami – no Atemu – say his name. Atemu started to set up his own bed whilst Yugi was lost in his thoughts, Yugi looked up to realise that he had taken the liberty of setting up his own as well. Yugi shifted uncomfortably at the thought of going to sleep, his dream from the other night coming back to haunt him. Atemu looked at him concerned, seeing the look of apprehension.

"What is it?" He asked softy.

"Yami, what is the shadow realm?" Yugi asked meekly, he had been afraid of asking that question for a while now, flashes of those dark tendrils reaching out to him ran behind his eyes.

Atemu looked away, worried, but spoke nonetheless, "the shadow realm is an unknown entity, it feeds the magic of myself and my priests through this." He held up his millennium puzzle, Yugi's hand drifted towards his own, peeking through his jacket only just revealed through the glinting of the firelight.

"Yes you have one too, probably what those men were after. I don't know how you have one, only one was ever made. But they were created to prevent the shadow realm from bursting open. Actually it was closed completely at one time. I don't know how it could have opened; this puzzle should be the only thing that can control the doorway."

Atemu let the Puzzle fall to his chest. "What do you know about it?" he asked Yugi eventually.

"Nothing," Yugi said honestly. A pained look crossed Atemu's face.

"That look of apprehension on your face says otherwise." He said softly refusing to look at him, Yugi could hear the conclusion Atemu had reached in his voice, he thought Yugi had been lying to him.

For Atemu's part, it made perfect sense, the small boy who had come out of nowhere looking exactly like his lost lover to disarm him. Conveniently saved his life so he could not turn him away, then he managed to 'pick up' the language so quickly. His heart felt crushed as he realised it must have been a scam. He looked up to see Yugi looking at him expectantly, waiting for a chance to talk, to explain himself.

Looking into those wide innocent eyes, Atemu found he could not deny him that right.

"Last night, I had a dream," Yugi said softly, his eyes closing involuntarily in memory. He explained softly about the dream, and those terrifying tendrils reaching towards him. Atemu's brow cleared in realisation.

"You truly have a gift." Atemu said softly. "You believe what you saw was the shadows, and you knew that instinctively. I know every one of those people and their auras that you saw were truthful to the last, yet you have never met."

Yugi blushed slightly at the praise, but was still confused as to what he meant. "It was just a dream."

Atemu smiled slightly at the child's modesty, but shook his head. "How did you get a millennium puzzle when there is only one in existence?" he asked softly.

Yugi looked up at Atemu, over the course of the day he had come up with his own explanation of where he was, but it seemed neither plausible, nor what he wanted to admit.

"I don't know if I should tell you." Yugi said softly, looking away, "it could be dangerous."

Atemu frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know what the powers of the puzzle are?"

"What do you mean?"

"What can the puzzle do? Control people, make you fly...travel through time."

"The puzzle is the gateway to the shadow realm, its main purpose is control and manipulation of the shadows, it doesn't have a defined use like the other items. Basically it has all of the abilities of the other items combined. It is the master item."

Yugi looked up startled. "How many items are there?"

"Seven in all, the scales, the rod, the eye, the key, the ring, the necklace and finally the puzzle, I am curious though how you managed to acquire a millennium item without knowing its potential."

"My Grandpa gave it to me. It was in pieces at the time, I think he intended to tell me about it when I finished but he...died before I did," Yugi stopped, fumbling slightly in speaking of the loss of his grandfather. "I kept going any way, for him. And when I finished it I ended up here."

Atemu sighed.

"You will have to tell me more when we wake up tomorrow, I have to start heading back to the palace tomorrow, to know that the shadows have been released and have followers in my own guard is a serious matter, and I need to attend to it immediately." He looked up at Yugi, "I am sorry, this isn't fair on you. I can either take you to a nearby town where I have friends, or you can come with me to the palace."

"Yami- Atemu, do you trust me?" Yugi asked softly.

Atemu didn't answer straight away, he looked Yugi in the eye, and he tried to see Yugi, instead of Heba. He had to admit that their likeness had been the reason behind his initial trust. But as he looked at him now, he saw the differences. Yugi's eyes were wide and trusting, they held no guile within them, no guarded nature.

The pale porcelain face was unmarked and held none of the premature wrinkles that Heba's face always bore; being husband to a king was no easy road to walk.

But there was a fear there that he had never seen in Heba, something deep seated. Atemu believed that this boy before him would not be as quick to trust as he would have others believe, nor would he turn away one who offered him theirs.

Finally, he saw the hidden strength and intelligence there, in his slight stature but firm shoulders and steady pose. The youth had managed to find his feet in a completely alien environment that he had been literally thrown into in under a day. He had adapted to the situation and understood all that Atemu had thrown at him tonight, even adapted to learn a new language to converse with him.

He would be a valuable friend to have in times such as which he was about to face, and a valuable advisor. He had very few people who saw him on a completely open ground, even his own cousin referred to him as Highness or Sir in the presence of others.

He smiled, he knew his decision, he only had one question left to ask. "Young one, may I ask, what is 'Yami'?"

Yugi looked at him stunned for a few moments before breaking out laughing, to break the tension if nothing else. Grinning he explained, "Yami is a word in my language, it means darkness."

"Darkness? I don't see the relevance; you seem to say it a lot." Atemu pointed out.

"Well I didn't know how to ask you your name, so I came up with one to think of you as, so Yami."

"Can I ask why you thought to call me darkness?" Atemu asked sardonically, Yugi reached forward and grabbed at his cloak.

"It's because of this," he explained. "When we first met you were entirely dressed in black, and your mood was so sombre at first, so Yami seemed to fit you. Not all dark things are bad, look at this, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his grandpa's deck, searching through it to pull out the dark magician. (A/N sorry guys I had to, this _is_ a Yugioh fic.)

"He is a caster of dark magic, but he's my favourite monster in the game, the darkness is merely something we do not know. It is not evil, it's the same with shadows, it just depends what it is that casts it."

As if the earth had heard his point, or merely a well timed coincidence, as he spoke the first light of Ra in the sky touched the both of them, each casting a shadow of their own, weak and uncertain in the poor light, but there none the less.

Atemu smiled, "I like Yami. I think it is a very good name, better than 'mythical great god of Annu.' Appropriate for a Pharaoh yes, but as a man, you saw me straight away. Please, call me that when we get to the palace, hells if the council gets angry we'll tell them it's your word for king." Atemu paused, "that is if you want to go to the palace," he said awkwardly.

Yugi bit his lip, "I don't know you haven't answered my question."

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

Atemu came to a decision. "Yes."

"Then yes I will come." Yugi said simply, "I feel safer around you."

"Now we should get some sleep, but I have nothing to use for shade, we shall have to head back into that town again today and get supplies. How about we rest for a few hours before Ra gets too hot, that should tie us over."

Yugi nodded and rolled gratefully into his blankets before going to sleep, his weak shadow slowly getting darker as first light crept steadily onto dawn.

* * *

A/N: Please review


	10. Chapter 9 Rising Sand

A/N – Just an FYI, in general I am gonna refer to Yami/Atemu as just Atemu from now on, but when Yugi speaks it'll be "Yami" just to stop confusion.

* * *

Chapter 9 – Rising sand

Yugi felt as if he had only just closed his eyes when Atemu was shaking him awake. Blearily he blinked up at him.

"What's going on?" he asked, speaking Japanese without thinking. Atemu looked at him uncomprehending. It was a few moments before he realised what he'd said.

"Oh sorry," he said in Japanese once more. He thought for a moment before switching to Egyptian, "I said 'what's going on.' "

"Ah I see, well we'll need to keep moving, Ra is getting high in the sky and a man can die here if he rests under Ra's eye while Ra himself is working."

Yugi nodded his understanding after a moment, the clarity that he had felt last night had evaporated and it was once again a struggle to communicate. He reached towards the millennium puzzle that was hanging from his neck, it felt familiar, he smiled knowing that a part of his Grandpa was still here, and tucked it beneath his shirt.

Atemu turned to him and spoke, it took all of Yugi's concentration to understand what he said. "We are going to the town to get some horses, after that it's a week's journey to get to the palace."

"Umm," Yugi said nervously, "Yami, I've never ridden a horse before."

Atemu smiled and took Yugi's hand, "come," was his only reply.

* * *

Yugi smiled in exhilaration as the wind whipped around him as he moved. Their visit to the town had been a short one, much to Yugi's relief, and yet disappointment. How long had he dreamt of visiting this world that had only existed to him in dreams and old fossilised relics, and now – if he was right – he was here.

Atemu had made short work of gathering their supplies and, it seemed, in recovering his horses, for the one he rode was obviously not of the same breed as those of the towns stock.

It had been Atemu's idea to ride together on the same horse at first and it had given him the courage to ride on his own. The other horse that he rode upon, with its short stature and modified saddle was perfect for him.

When he had asked Atemu about why he had such a horse with him he refused to answer. In that he did, in more depth than any number of words could.

They were riding hard, hoping to make the next town before night fall, Atemu seemed concerned about their haste and it made Yugi think of what darkness they were rushing headlong into.

But such thoughts were hard to maintain amongst the blazing heat of the Egyptian Sun and that glorious wind, Yugi let out a cry of joy and pushed his horse ahead and into the distance, sand flying beneath them.

* * *

Joey looked up from his position on his bed. Despite it being quarters for a servant, the room around him was far grander than he had ever been in before...well at least not legally. Even then this beat some of the temples he had hid in as a kid.

True to his word Mr High-strung Priest had not bothered him once since the day before - no it had been two days now – Joey corrected himself. Once Seth had left the chambers Joey had crawled into the very spot he was lying in now and merely slept for a whole day. A combination of his body's need to heal and some of the palace healer's medicine saw to that.

It was an unnerving thought, the ease with which that man changed his face, but he seemed to have meant what he said when he told him he would allow him to rest. Joey hadn't checked the door yet, his gut for some reason told him that it was unlocked but he had not been game enough to test that theory. If he proved to be wrong... he didn't want to think about what it would feel to be in that situation again. Eventually there came a time when his stomach drove him outward. The need for food overcame his instinctive fear.

He tested the door, and it swung open smoothly.

"Ah, the Mutt seems to be willing to show his face at last." A sardonic voice called. Joey scowled.

"I aint no mutt rich boy," Joey said coarsely, falling back on the lingo defensively.

"Well you certainly seem to talk like one." Joey chose to remain silent for that one. Seth let the silence stretch for a while before sighing as it seemed that the boy was not about to say anything anytime soon. "What is it you wanted?" Seth asked, "I seem to recall you do not begin your duties for another five days." A flash of respect shot through Joeys eyes, only to be quelled by Seth's next words. "Come on mutt, what is it? Cat got your tongue?"

Joey scowled. "Got anything to eat around here?" he asked simply, "can't really see you actually doing something yourself so I am guessing no."

Seth's eyes narrowed at the comment. "I suggest you remember who you are talking to, servant." He said icily, his anger blazing in his eyes. He turned away, back to his work. "I will get a servant to gather a meal." He said his voice returning to its usual cold apathy. "Seeing as the mutt hasn't been taught to fetch yet." He added the last part softly but loud enough for Joey to hear.

Joey glared, "I can feed myself rich boy," he said. Seth merely laughed that infuriatingly superior laugh once more.

"Go back to your kennel, mutt," he said.

Grumbling Joey stalked back to his room.

* * *

Atemu smiled as he saw his young companion's carefree expression, glad that even last night's events couldn't dull his bright happiness. His smile turned to a smirk as he thought of how quickly the youth would get over the novelty of riding the horse before the usual aches set in.

He was amazed by the youth's ability to find joy. He looked off into the distance, and his own brow turned serious as his eyes fell upon the coils of smoke that rose there.

"We're gonna have to hurry." He said softly to himself, clapping his heels into the horse's sides, hoping that Yugi would do the same.

A grim line replaced his mouth in trepidation of what was ahead.

* * *

Joey was back lying down on his bed bored out of his mind.

The aches and pains of the previous night were all but forgotten in the back of his mind, his stomach growled again but his pride refused to let him eat the food that rich boy had terrified some poor kid into fetching.

There was a knock at the door, Joey's head perked up, but it wasn't at his door, instead it was at the one to the rest of the palace, outside Seth's chambers. The knock sounded again, and Joey stood, wondering why Seth wasn't answering the door. He wandered out slowly to find Seth wasn't in the room, or anywhere else in the chambers. Shrugging he thought that he would at least let the messenger out of his misery. Joey walked over and answered the door, surprised to find a bowing form before him.

"You can stand up," Joey said grinning, "The High Priest isn't here at the moment." The small form slowly lifted its head at the kind voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise." The servant paused unsure, "I don't know what to do now, I have a message for the High Priest that needed to be delivered."

Joey smiled "sorry, you can't ask me, I've been here for two days and I don't know squat," he said jokingly, but the worry and fear on the servants face merely increased. Joey bent so that he was at the same height as the boy.

"Look I'll tell you what you can do, is the message written down?" the boy nodded. "Alright then I'll make a copy and leave it here, then why don't you ask some of the guards if they know where he is."

The servant brightened at this plan of action, but a thought struck Joey and he glanced from side to side before turning to the boy again.

"Look, make sure they're a Royal guard, not your run of the mill palace type. They have purple embroidered on their shenti's." The servant looked confused and Joey bit his lip, he didn't want this kid getting in trouble because of his own superstitions. His hand strayed to the bruises that were currently covered by the loose shirt he wore, okay maybe more than superstitions but still.

"A royal guard is more likely to know the movements of the High priest, and you would just be wasting another guards' time," he came up with finally. The servant nodded his understanding before handing him the note to copy out.

It was at times like these that Joey wished he had learnt to read as he carefully copied the characters down, trying to guess at what it meant. But to no avail and he left it sitting front and centre on the desk.

He returned the note to the messenger who smiled at him before leaving down the hall.

Joey sighed, wishing he could do something for the kid. He snorted._ Yeah look at yourself; you're in no better situation than him. What the hell are you gonna do now? Be Mister High Priest's lap dog for the rest of your life? _Joey sank down the wall as resentment for the tall brunette building in his chest.

The thought of that guy had that kid shaking with his face to the floor; Joey didn't want to be that.

He wouldn't let himself.

* * *

Seth was sitting in the Pharaohs office, thinking.

He was pouring over the pages and pages of reports that had been flooding in from throughout the kingdom. He had tallied up the number of reports against the number of officers who had been sent out to gather information...And was coming to the realisation that he was several short.

He still had yet to speak to Bakura about the jewel, and this new discovery was unwelcome in the most extreme sense of the word. He let out a short sigh of frustration, and closed his eyes briefly to regain control of himself and continued on the monotonous task of reading through and filing each of them for later reference.

A knock sounded at the door Seth looked up before calling for the messenger to enter. Half bowed the servant came through the door, his head and eyes downcast as was proper to his station.

"Yes," Seth said shortly, waiting for the servant to speak.

"I have a message for you from the dungeon master." He replied, holding out a slip of paper to the tall priest. Gracefully he rose and read the message. Shock bubbled through him, but he kept his face its usual impassive mask.

"Very well, there will be no need to send a return message; I will go to see him after court. You are dismissed."

The servant bowed low once more and retreated, waiting for Seth to leave before turning to the pile of papers behind him. A gleeful smirk touched his features, as he slipped several documents into the pile.

_Mission complete._

* * *

A/N and the plot thickens...

To be perfectly honest, yes this was a filler chapter, and I wasn't happy with how Seth's character turned out. I would really like to hear people's opinions of him because I am struggling to keep his character constant at the moment, and I really don't want to make him OOC.

Thank you all for reading, until next time... .  
– Phoenix


	11. Chapter 10 The Oil Soaked Sand

Chapter 10 - The oil soaked sand.

Atemu and Yugi got into the township soon after the blaze had been extinguished. Blankets and various items of cloth lay strewn upon the ground, but there was little that those of the town could do to put out the blaze. The house in question was nothing more than a charred pile.

A family stood weeping off to one side, the townsfolk surrounding them almost in a universal comfort. Two figures stood off to one side, separate from the people in more ways than one. It was clear that these figures were not of the town by the gold glinting through their armour.

Atemu dismounted and strode confidently towards the two. Yugi close at his heels, as they got closer he realised that the two were guards, dressed similarly to the two they had encountered the other night. He hung back; distrust filling within him, yet not far enough from Atemu to miss overhearing the conversation.

"What happened?" he asked softly. The guard turned and visibly started when he realised who it was talking to him. He made to bow but Atemu's firm hand quickly stopped him. "I do not wish to cause a fuss among these people, merely to know what happened."

The guard, obviously off put by his Pharaoh's actions stumbled awkwardly for words for a few moments before gathering his thoughts.

"The fire started late last night, we and the town have been working through the night to control it. It is the place where both of us and the family over there were staying." He paused, licking his lips slightly. "My Pharaoh; they had a child who has not been seen since the fire, but there is no evidence of a body. We believe that he has become another victim, right under our noses." The guard looked shamefaced at this admittance of failure.

"What do you know of these occurrences so far?" Atemu asked. The town they were in was a fairly major trade community and as such would have a lot of wide spread information.

"Kidnappings mostly, though some come with acts of destruction such as this one. Their always children below the age of 18, usually they show up several days later dead with evidence of... torture." The guard stumbled at that last word, a disturbed look upon his face.

Yugi couldn't stop the gasp from escaping his lips, causing the guards to notice him for the first time. They stood to attention, moving slightly in order to place themselves between the newcomer and their Pharaoh.

"Stand down." Atemu said clearly. "This is Yugi, he is my companion and not from our land, you are to treat him as you do me."

"Yes Pharaoh," they said as one.

After speaking to some more members of the town – this time remaining incognito – and sending off a message to a man called Seth, Atemu and Yugi set out once more with the two guards following behind. Yugi threw a nervous glance at Atemu, what he had heard today scared him... and not only because of what he had somehow found himself witnessing.

Yugi was a history buff – an Egypt buff – he prided himself on this fact. He knew all of the major stresses and events that Egypt had gone through better than he knew the back of his hand. But he had never heard anything about children being kidnapped.

Or a Pharaoh named Atemu now that he thought about it...

############################

Seth sighed as he sat in the uncomfortably exposed chair that was his equivalent of the throne – without actually having to sit in his cousin's chair. Joey was sitting cross-legged some meters back, he wasn't exceptionally happy about that, but appearances had to be kept.

Joey, for his part, was watching Seth with keen eyes. He felt a twist of distaste touch the corner of his mouth at seeing the proud priest sitting there; delivering punishments and decisions that could potentially alter someone's life with nothing but a discontented shake of his head.

Joey couldn't stop the bitter thoughts building as boredom begun to set in. He amused himself with imagining himself having an argument with the rich boy in front of him; he threw in a few good punches for good measure – a special for that overzealous ego he carried about him.

He was shocked from his thoughts when a family that he knew walked into the throne room. Embarrassment washed through him but he held his ground, hating the vile Priest all the more as he heard those sardonic tones waft over to the family in greeting. Joey tuned into the conversation curiously. He felt his throat catch. The family were asking for provisions for their town.

Joey searched his memory and recalled that they lived not too far out from the main city. The town was mainly made up of refugees who had banded together, those who could afford no other place where they could get a roof over their heads so they had built one themselves.

Joey had called that place home once. Many called it a slum.

Joey gritted his teeth as he heard rich-boy's cold reply. "I am sorry to inform you, but the town that you seem to be here vying for, does not exist. You will not be receiving supplies. I will also inform you that attempting to steal from the Pharaoh by subterfuge of his court, is a criminal offence. Guards!"

Joey watched helplessly as the father was taken away. His wife watched on, seeming to the haughty, noble eyes around her to do nothing, but Joey knew better, and it tore at his heart. She didn't do something, because she _couldn't_.

It was not worth the moral gratification to deprive these children of another parent.

_Doesn't exist my foot,_ Joey thought angrily, his face was red from trying to resist screaming the words out in front of the entire court, a_ lot of those people do more hard work in a day than you do in a whole year! But no you'll sit on that throne as if you're Ra himself and decide whether or not their children will live this year... and you don't even know it._

Unable to protest further against the High Priest the remainder of the small family left without a word.

Joey lost interest in the proceedings after that.

##############################

By the end of the day Seth was in his normal, pissed off mood as he stalked his way down to the dungeon. Bound to follow, Joey was close at his heels.

People's petty troubles meant little to him when they were so narrow. _People only care for themselves_. He thought callously, _who cares about guards, money, trade, food, water-_ Seth cut off his mental rant with a huff, a bitter taste filling his mouth. How many did he know that scorned his record keeping, that sneered behind his back calling him the 'Ice Priest.' _Where would this country be without administrators, without people with the brains to calculate and record? People cannot expect the Pharaoh to solve for them their little petty squabbles, when he has an entire country to worry about._

Seth was no fool; he knew that the system of court was largely a farce. Anyone with a real problem or piece of information that was _valuable_ to the crown wouldn't make it past the front gate, by the sheer weight of troubled nobles and scrabbling thieves.

At that his thoughts turned to the man he was currently going to see, he rounded a corner arriving at the entrance to the dungeon where the guards not currently on rounds remained close by to lend a hand if needed. Seth turned to the captain currently in charge and a twist of distaste touched at the corner of his mouth. The man before him was not known for his cool, rational head.

"High Priest, what a pleasure. May I ask what begs you're presence in this mangy corner of the palace?" the Captain drawled, the sarcasm and disrespect hit Seth like a foul smell twisting his stomach and wrinkling his nose.

"Captain, I came on two errands, one being the peasant sent down here this morning. He is nothing but a petty, minor criminal and I expect to hear no reports of you and you're men disrespecting their position with their excessive punishments. He is to be treated fairly, his sentencing will be held in several days time" The Captains mouth drew itself into a line, but otherwise he made no other show of his displeasure at being reprimanded like a school child.

"And what was your other _errand_?" In his discomfort, the Captain forgot his carefully sarcastic manners. Seth sneered.

"That is none of your business. The files on Bakura Nao are to be taken up to my quarters by my personal servant and the guards you have on patrol are to return to this office until I leave or by my own order. Is that understood?"

At the totally dominating tone within Seth's voice the captain could only nod. The reams of papyrus were placed in Joeys hands, Seth barely glanced at him as he told the boy to remain in his quarters until he returned.

Seth pushed his way through to the thin corridor that was the passage to the dungeons.

####################

Bakura was staring at a wall.

It wasn't a very interesting wall, but he only had four to choose from and this one hadn't had a look in for a while. The lines of where the thick mud-bricks had been cemented together were just visible as a slightly lighter shade of brownish grey.

However, after five days of staring he already knew their patterns and routes nearly as well as his own hand. At first he had tried keeping up with his standard training routines, but that had promptly been shot down by the guards who delivered his meals. They deemed it 'unsafe' to allow a prisoner to remain in such a fit physical condition... roughly translated that meant that whoever was in charge was bored that day and wanted to screw with him.

After an indeterminable amount of time (it wasn't like they gave him a clock) the monotony was broken by a soft knock at the door.

Bakura frowned, he was sure that not enough time had elapsed between meals for a whole day to have passed... Then again, he could finally be going insane. He'd never stayed in a place this long without at least _trying_ to escape. He could always make an attempt, just to shake things up.

His train of thought was rudely interrupted by another knock at the door, frowning in annoyance Bakura turned to the offending wall and considered if he should reply. Of course he could just try talking to vocalise his thoughts but he didn't think that he was that far gone. He returned to his planned escape attempt, it would have to be carefully done to ensure that he was caught without actually ruining his reputation. Maybe a rookie walking down the hall at the wrong moment– No wait, he'd normally just kill the rookie, and Atemu would be mad at him if Bakura actually started killing off his guards because he was bored. Of course he threatened to do it a fair bit, but he was _fairly_ sure that Atemu's reply had been sarcastic when he suggested Bakura try it some time.

_Knock knock!_

Bakura was marginally annoyed this time... and he was fairly certain that his own mind wouldn't conjure a distraction when he was planning a way to kill someone.

"It's locked," Bakura called out into the darkness, "believe me I've tried. Oh and if I had the key, I wouldn't be in here to have this nice chat with you."

"Bakura, you know that you're supposed to respond when there is a knock at the door. Primarily due to the fact that I have no desire for you to try and strangle me today," drawled the knocker.

"What do you want me to say, 'who's there'?"

The door swung open to reveal the prestigious High Priest standing there, an annoyed glare of distain touching his features.

After a few moments of passive silence Bakura gave in. "So... come to spring me have you? Or did you want someone to holler at about that stick up your ass?"

Seth moved swiftly slipping inside and closing the door behind him.

"Some Son of a Jackal [1] decided that they could fill up their stocks by coming in here begging for supplies, for a fake town!"

Seth seemed to explode the sentence out.

Bakura paused, waiting to see if there was more.

"The latter one then," Bakura said mockingly, finishing his last thought. "Feel better now?"

"Marginally."

"How long did you hold that one in?" Bakura's mocking tone had changed to one of derision, something that Seth pointedly ignored.

"Damned idiots should at least _try_ to do a good job of scamming someone." Seth snorted. "I mean come on. Isn't it insulting to you to see such pitiful behaviour in criminals, don't you title yourself their king?"

"First of all, my title is the King of _Thieves_, and secondly those people are usually desperate beyond belief or just plain stupid. Usually I go for the latter because desperate people seem to have this idiotic core of honesty through them, they'd either give you the name of a town that even exists, or better yet, be telling the truth about needing the supplies. Stupid people just expect a person to be a dumb as them... which of course brings me to you _and_ the real point of this conversation, WHY THE FUCK! AM I STILL IN HERE?"

"You stole a priceless jewel from the high temple of Anubis."

"Oh, ha ha."

"You were dumb enough to get caught."

Bakura looked unimpressed.

"Now I have to deal with the paperwork that involves leaving a false trail in order to get you released without a major conspiracy investigation being undertaken... Which I really feel no necessity to do right now."

"Fuck off, High Prick." A smirk touched at the corner of Seth's mouth.

"Very well then, I suppose you won't want to hear the news that Atemu's finally managed to put a face to the assholes that are currently crouching in the ashes of Kul Elna?" Bakura launched himself at Seth, stopping just shy of the taller man due to the not-quite-long-enough chains that restrained him.

"You damned nut case, how dare you keep that from me, HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?"

Seth stepped back slightly from the slightly possessed change that had come over the thief. His normally brown eyes seemed to flash the deep crimson of blood, and he wild white hair stood up slightly on end, like a dog raising its hackles. All of a sudden where before a sardonic and annoying youth had stood was now a figure that would give a lesser man nightmares.

Carefully Seth stepped forward, placing his hand on the shorter man's shoulders, and spoke the words to send chills running through the blood.

"Shadow is back."

################################

Son of a Jackal = Son of a Bitch, but with a stronger meaning to it. It comes from the imagery that links Jackals to the underworld.


	12. Chapter 11 Tell Me a Story

A/N: Just to let you all know, I'm sorry this isn't a new chapter, but I have just gone over and put up the newly edited versions of chapters 1-11 and Prologue. I hope this clears up the confusion.

* * *

Chapter 11 – Tell me a story

Seth stood at the door to his rooms, Bakura's words still ringing in his ears.

Ha hadn't taken his news well, Seth could still see his long time cohorts face slowly crumbling before his eyes as the news sunk in. They had all been hoping that the stolen children was an innocent – that is to say non-world-threatening – case of perhaps slavery, or maybe some power hungry tyrant on a vendetta.

They had at least expected it to be someone mortal.

Shadow had died ten years ago, how could he be here?

"_I still don't believe that it's over. Something I always said: you can't kill the darkness, no matter how many kids are scared of it."_ Bakura had said. They were nothing more than boys, and the then Priest initiate had still held a measure of distain for the thief. It was only at his cousins bidding that he put up with him until Atemu arrived.

"_The Millennium Items were crafted to hold back the shadows, what makes you think that they will fail." Seth was scornful, confident that anything that this uneducated ruffian could come up with would be inadequate against his own knowledge. _

"_You can't put out one fire by lighting another. Even if their intentions were good, this is all gonna end up in smoke eventually."_

Their conversation had ended there as Atemu had shown up. But it never stopped Seth from thinking on it, and watching out of the corner of his eye. Just in case.

He now cursed himself for not paying more attention.

He was, however, glad that this time they would not be so unprepared.

He swiftly turned on his heel and headed off in the opposite direction down the corridor. He would need another pair of hands for this.

* * *

Joey paced back and forth within his _masters_ chambers. Feeling all the more caged for his little trip out for "walks." He seethed inside. The image of the old woman's helpless face danced before his eyes, haunting him.

Joey was disgusted with himself to have to stand by and watch that disgusting display, and do NOTHING! It was the epitome of everything that he hated within people. There was a sudden announcement of hurried footsteps, Joey looked up. _Speak of the devil_. Joey thought scathingly.

"Come, we have some things to attend to, and I need someone else to give me a hand with some errands."

Joey glared at the man before him, snarling. "Run your errands?" he spat still furious.

Seth's glare turned icy; with two swift steps he glided forward and snatched up his slave from where he stood defiantly in the middle of the room. Joey was no small man, and it was only Seth's immense height that craned Joey's neck up at that furious expression.

"May I remind you that though you have been given _certain privileges, _you are still a criminal and my _slave_." He spat the words into the insolent boys face.

Joey flinched away as Seth dropped him to the floor. He fell like a sack of potatoes and curled in on himself instinctively; squeezing his eyes shut as flashes of bloodied knuckles and pitch-black eyes shot before them. A deep sneering laughter echoed within his head. He forced his eyes open, bringing himself back to the present. "He's dead" Joey whispered softly, repeating it as a mantra within his head. Joey picked himself up off the floor.

Seth stood stoically at the door, waiting for his slave to follow.

And with no choice otherwise, he did.

* * *

Seth walked swiftly down the steps that lead to the archives in the bowls of the palace. Joey – still duly nullified by Seth's earlier scolding – followed silently behind, his keen eyes looking around himself in wonder. The stair was an old stone construction lit only by the torches placed intermittently in brackets on the walls. Seth grasped one purposefully when they reached the bottom of the stairs and lead the way down a dark corridor to one of the largest libraries that Joey would ever see.

From floor to ceiling the massive shelves groaned under the weight of many thousands of scrolls, to his left and right thin pathways trailed away onto more shelves and more books. Each shelve was inscribed with different symbols and numbers. As far as Joey could tell they made some sort of order, but all he could read were the little numerals that formed some sort of simple code.

Staring around and trying to take in as much as he could of where they were going Joey often had to run to catch up with Seth's brisk pace as he wove without hesitation through this veritable labyrinth.

"So what are we doing here?" Joey finally asked once he had caught up to the haughty Priest for the umpteenth time.

"Looking for a scroll." Seth replied shortly, turning a sharp corner that sent Joey into the shelf beside him.

"Brilliant job rich boy, I think we've come to the right place!" Joey retorted after he had recovered from his collision.

"You don't seem to have a lot of respect mutt." Seth stopped, turning his icy blue gaze upon the boy.

Joey matched glare for glare, his own honey brown blazing. "No I just don't have a lot of respect for dumb answers!" he snapped.

Seth merely turned on his heel and continued walking, although Joey did catch a soft "well it's no wonder you have so little respect for yourself"

"Hey I heard that!" Joey called, chasing him down the narrow pathways once again.

* * *

Yugi approached Atemu cautiously once they had set up camp for their second night of riding with the guards, unsure of himself now that they were in the presence of others... particularly others with swords and armour.

To his relief, Atemu had chosen to sit alone by a personal fire. His bed roll lay unfolded next to him, but he looked a long way from sleep. Still nervous, Yugi tentatively stepped into the firelight, unsure if he should address him any different now that he was among others.

"Yami?" His soft voice called.

Atemu's head jerked up and relief spread across his features. "Yugi, I was wondering where you had gotten to, are you alright?"

A little unsure, Yugi nodded. Atemu patted the ground beside him and obligingly Yugi sat down. "So far how away are we?" Yugi asked eventually, he still had trouble forming coherent sentences; he let out a restrained giggle at Atemu's confused face before attempting to correct his mistake. "Away, how far are we?"

It took Atemu a few moments "how far away are we?" He finally put together.

"Ah, I'll never get it," Yugi despaired.

"Little one, you expect too much of yourself."

"But I already know this, I just can't say it!" At Atemu's confused look he elaborated. "I can read Hieroglyphs perfectly, but I've never heard it spoken aloud before. But I should know it by now!"

"A language when spoken is very different to a written language [1]. Don't worry young one, you will learn soon enough. Now what were you coming over here for?"

The apprehension returned to Yugi as he thought how to phrase his question. "You know how I got here, and how I know your written language?" He asked slowly.

"I know what you have told me, which is not much."

"I don't think I can tell you too much, it could be-"

"-Dangerous, yes you said, but what sort of danger."

"Don't know if you know the Ancient Egyptian translation for grandfather paradox." Yugi muttered under his breath in Japanese. Atemu looked at him confused again, and Yugi took a deep breath.  
"It's kinda related to what I want to ask you about. You see, I can't tell you how, but I know things about your country, your history." Yugi sighed. "Your future," he added in Japanese. Despite his personal sidenotes, however, Yugi could feel once more that surreal ease of understanding that overcame him.

Atemu shot him a look that was a strange mix of curiosity and fear; Yugi reasoned that he would be wary too if someone had told him he knew a whole load of information about his life, someone he had never met before, who was a complete stranger to his land.

"Look, I know a lot, but that's not the danger. I can't tell you anything because in all I know, I know nothing of these events. I have never heard of you or your Father in all that I have read, nor anything about shadows... It worries me, I should know."

"What kind of a creature are you, that you expect to know events that are yet to pass." Atemu's voice had now given way to fear, but it was power and defiance that overlayed it. A true leader.

"I am no creature." Yugi assured him, "but like I said it has to do with how I got here..." Yugi's shoulders slumped as he finally convinced himself to stop evading what he wanted to know. "My point is that I want to know. Before you said that the Shadows are back? When were they here before?"

"It's not a short story little one." Atemu said softly, an etching of pain in his voice.

Yugi stood silently and walked away. Before long he returned with his bedroll. Setting up beside Atemu he looked at him expectantly. "Yami, we have a long night."

"Very well, let us begin..."

* * *

Joey sighed as Seth turned_ another_ corner before finally stopping.

"Will you humour me then and tell me why I'm here? You know your way around here well enough that you don't need me."

"I am here to find the archived records of the Shadows, and you are here as my little Mutt to play 'go fetch.' " Seth waited for a few moments to see if his words had any effect, and was pleased to see a boiling anger still in the boys eyes. But it troubled him how well hidden it was, "I don't assume you can read can you?" He drawled, Joey growled softly.

"No." He said shortly, "I always found that being able to fight off a fully grown man was more suited to my future prospects."

"I will have to arrange for you to receive lessons then; I feel no need to test the fable of teaching old dogs. I suppose that means that you don't know numbers either? Another thing outside of your 'future prospects.' "

"No I know numbers, its kinda hard to value something if you don't know what's on the price tag."

"Palace jewels don't have a price tag."

"Not whilst they're in the palace they don't. But in the market place, everything has its price and everyone knows numbers."

A strange silence fell between them, as both watched the other wearily. Seth turned towards the shelves. "This section is dedicated to the records of the wars our great Pharaoh's of the past have fought in. I need the scrolls dated from 10 years ago."

"The year of the current Pharaoh's rise?" Joey asked absentmindedly his mouth running away as he began to pull several scrolls out from the shelves and examining them closely whilst Seth merely skimmed.

"Hn," Seth grunted noncommittally.

"So... why are we looking for these scrolls?" Joey asked after another pause.

"Research."

"Research on..." Joey prompted, still undeterred. Seth raised an eyebrow at the boy, unable to hold back the grudging respect at the boy's determination. "Oi rich boy, don't ya know when you're being asked a question." Then again, there was always a temper to that respect... in both senses [2].

"I would have thought that even you would be able to work that one out, Mutt. Even with that doggie brain of yours" Seth sneered.

"The hell are you on about."

"Here let me give you a hint, do you know what a shadow is?"

"Uh, that thing that follows you around when you're in the sun, they're fairly common." Joey looked perplexed and even a little annoyed, obviously thinking that the tall Priest was merely making fun of him.

Seth was gobsmacked. How could this boy not know? Sure he would have been young, younger than even Atemu, but it was a tale taught to all children by their parents at a young age. However when he spoke it reflected none of the inner turmoil.

"Have your parents taught you nothing Mutt." Seth sneered, he was about to continue with his insult when he saw a dark look cross the youths face, one totally unbefitting of the cheerful demeanour that he carried about.

Liquid honey froze into cold unfeeling amber, hard, flat and uncaring. The glare was not one of fire, but still it burned, searing down into Seth until he swore he could feel his very soul recoiling from that gaze.

"My parents were not the teaching type."

The sentence was cold and jerky. _No further_, it seemed to tell him, and Seth felt trapped.

"Then allow me," Seth said in the most gentle voice that he could muster. The usual cold ice of his gaze melted slightly, and Joey was shocked to recognise something there in the depths... but then it was gone and the boy had turned away.

"It happened about ten years ago... Gods we were all so young." Seth's voice had grown distant, almost pained. He turned back to Joey with a kind look in his eyes. "Sit," he instructed, "this will be a long tale..."

* * *

1- This actually came from an experience of a friend of mine, she worked as a volunteer in Cambodia with orphans, helping them to learn English. One of them – her translator – could speak almost perfect English however when it came to the written language he could barely form a coherent sentence, so this is the reverse...

2- Just to clarify, I am referring to the oxymoronic (there is another term but it's 1am) meaning of 'temper', which is both to inflame (i.e. get angry or 'have a _temper'_) as well as to moderate (as in to _temper _and tone down or alleviate).

Please Review


	13. Chapter 12 A Shadowy Tale

A/N Hello - I AM ALIVE! I am sorry for the long delay between this chapter and the last but the dreadded RL decided to rear it's ugly head, and this chapter has been a thorn in my side for too long. I was originally going to make the 'past' into one part, but decided that it was getting too long and you all deserved an update, the next one shouldn't take too much longer as I am almost finished with my trial exams and will have a lot of free time soon...

On a less positive note, sorry to bother you all, I am trying to break this habit I have of long A/N's at the beginning of chappies, however this is something that has been seriously bothering me. I have one person who has been persistently reviewing, only to say "Please put up chapter (blank) soon and hurry"

Now if I could, I would deal with this on a private channel, however the person who has been reviewing is an anonymous account as such this is my only method on communication.

Maybe I am missing the point here, but I have always believed reviews to be a way of helping the writer to improve their skills – even a comment on the story alone still gives a writer feedback as to how people are responding to their hard work – however, when all that is left is a demand to update, personally I find that rude in the highest. Don't get me wrong, this is not a rant, but it hurts to see, not one but multiple reviews that have so obviously had no thought put into them.

I hope that I am mistaken on this front, however when the chapter being asked to post is not even the next chapter to be posted, it seems to say 'I [the reviewer] can't be bothered to read your story.' And, as all writers know, a lot of effort goes into these stories, to receive something like that is really disheartening, and I say this even if only to point it out...

There, that's my two cents done. Now for all of you wonderful reviewers (and I mean _all)_ – and anyone who has chosen to read my story so far – on with the fic.

* * *

Chapter 12: A Shadowy tale.

Atemu sighed slightly and his eyes seemed to age as he recalled the events so long past...

"It was eleven years ago, when it started. No one really knew what had happened to start it, but it was whilst my Father was still in power. I don't remember much myself but the tale is very clearly kept by our scholars. It began within the guards; here and there we had desertions, doubt within the ranks. It all coincided with a rebellion of some sort, but that was all they ever thought it was. The priests, the generals, even the Pharaoh himself never dreamt of what was really there, just lurking beneath the surface.

"I remember one of the council meetings that my father held about it; I remember how much it scared me...

_I snuck in to the meeting, to find out what was happening. The increased numbers of guards was putting a lot of people on edge._

_Father was there, along with his council. The priest hood scared me back then, so many men. Many of them were older than my father, and stricter as well. I knew a select few, my uncle among them, and none of them would have been happy to know I was listening in, but I had to know._

"_We all know why we are here." Aknamkanon said, his voice powerful, "the recent usurpers must be dealt with swiftly. I wish to hear your opinions on such matters as always my priests. We need solutions, and soon."_

_An anxious silence fell over the room as the rooms occupants glanced from one to the other, each unwilling to be the first to break the silence._

"_Dear brother," my Uncle, Aknadin started. The high priest of the time he was high enough to speak that openly, but despite his intimate words his tone was cold and detached. "There is an option left to us." His eye travelled over the room, and I felt for certain that he would see me. But he continued: "We believe that those who we are facing are not... common. They have strengths above what normal men hold, more than simple power." The way my Uncle spoke of them, it was with reverence. He didn't seem afraid. Of course in my mind back then, that fact only made me look upon him in awe..._

"_They have been witnessed to persuade actions and information at the single utterance of a word. They influence animals through speech," small mutterings were stirring around the room; I felt a chill run down my spine at the thought, "and it is not only the beasts of burden at their call, but true monsters," the mutterings and uneasiness grew stronger, but it was obvious that he had the whole rooms undivided attention, "and we finally believe that we have found how these vermin–"_

"_Enough."_

_It was only a word, but the sound of Pharaoh Aknamkanon's voice cut the whispers from the room like a knife. His eyes blazed at his brother who had the intelligence to look abashed at the need for reprimand._

"_I ask that all leave this room aside from my High Priest," Aknamkanon's cool, authoritative voice continued, "this meeting will re-commence in the afternoon."_

_The council left in silence, I squeezed myself deeper into the gap where I was hiding, fearful, but I was not discovered. The other priests hung back slightly; there were seven of them in total, including my father who was returning his brothers look with equal ferocity. Those who remained I knew much better, Mahad – one of the more junior priests – was actually a close personal friend of mine... well as close as personal friends of a prince could get. Isis I knew as the palace healer, Shimon had been around since the time of my Grandfather. After that, Aknadin was the only other I knew well, he was staring down my father, not bothering to hide the harshness within his glare._

_Aknamkanon instead kept his gaze wider; he nodded briefly at Shimon to remain before turning a hard eye to those who still remained. Obediently Isis, Mahado, Shada and __Abasi__ forwarded out of the room._

"_Aknadin, why have you raised this once more?" Aknamkanon asked pointedly, "we have already discussed this in private and agreed that there was no use in spreading more rumours!"_

_Aknadin's nostrils flared in anger, but the rest of his face remained stoic. "This is no rumour my Pharaoh," he implored. "I believe I have found the methods that these traitors are using to call forth the creatures." I was terrified. Monsters and magic? What was this? It sounded more akin to the ghost stories that Mahado had once told Mana and I. _

"_What methods?" Aknamkanon asked, his tone still angry, but there was no hiding the intrigue that lay beneath. _

"_The troops, they're not just deserting, someone – or something – is influencing them. He uses a tool of some sort, a tool that draws power to it, Darkness..." Aknadin trailed off seemingly caught within his own thoughts._

_A wizened voice broke his retrieve. "How can you know this Aknadin?" Shimon's aged voice questioned quietly, alone of the three men he did not raise his voice but it was piercing. Aknadin jumped slightly as if he had forgotten the other was in the room._

"_Come on old man, surely you remember what our father taught us, of the cursed legend." Aknadin's tone was mocking, I didn't like that, nor did the Pharaoh._

"_Aknadin! How dare you speak such words in my presence. The cruelty of such an act as to create them- how could you even consider such a thing?" My father's voice scared me, I'd never seen him look so angry. Shimon stepped closer, laying a consoling hand upon his arm._

"_Brother," Aknadin pleaded, for the first time a hint of uncertainty crossed his face. "I have no wish to bestow the horrors of such an act upon Egypt, but you have seen it to. They are not creatures from this world. If we could... find another way to make the items... would it not be worth it to protect Egypt and her people."_

"_It is not wise to challenge the power of Ra," Shimon's soft, piercing voice warned. Pharaoh Aknamkanon's fiery red eyes turned to meet the placid hues of his advisors aged gaze. Deep, glistening amethyst shone with the truth of their gazers words._

"_Brother, my word is law. Egypt and her people need the graces of the Gods, we would do them a disservice by angering those who have guided us so well."_

"_Egypt needs us to act, my Pharaoh–" _

"_Yes, it does. It also needs its High priest to focus upon his duties. Brother, I have always valued your advice, but we must drive our efforts forward, and not linger upon fairytales."_

_Then the three of them left. I was so scared that it was a good few minutes before I could bring myself to leave. I went and told the only person I could think of: my cousin, Seth._

* * *

"When Atemu related to me what he'd seen, I was... deeply disturbed." Seth confided softly; he and Joey had found a small empty corner for the haughty Priest to recount his story. "My Father was a rather unscrupulous man when it came to getting what he wanted. I was already in the priesthood by that time, despite my meagre fourteen years. I knew that my father was grooming me to take over his position even then. He'd always been very strict with my learning, encouraging my friendship with my cousin. Who better to get me far in life than the heir to the throne?"

"Wait, what? Your cousins the Pharaoh!"

"Yes, my father, High Priest Aknadin was the younger brother of Pharaoh Aknamkanon." Seth reached into the pile of documents that they had brought with him, flicking through a couple he finally pulled out a copy of the royal family bloodlines. Showing Joey the line traced at the very bottom. Being unable to read Joey instead looked at the dates underneath the name that Seth was pointing to, shocked to see the close groupings of the dates that marked people's deaths. His eye strayed to where – what he assumed – was Seth's father, beside his name was another, Seth's mother no doubt, but there were two names that followed beneath the married couple.

"You have a brother?" Joey stated bluntly, then paused and added for good measure, "or sister..." Seth laughed slightly at his suggestion, but it was empty and seemed to echo around the room.

"The only female names you will see there are that of my mother, and funnily enough, her sister. They were both presented to the court, being of a wealthy nobility in their own right. My father and my Uncle were taken with them from the moment they met, or so I was told... but they never really got the chance to tell us that themselves." Seth's eyes had turned cold with a distant longing and grief.

"She was one of the first to go," Seth's voice was ancient as he gazed at the tiny inked name of his Aunt. "I didn't want to believe it at first, but I saw it with my own eyes..." Seth's voice halted, as if he was no longer able to force out the words, he swallowed needlessly and pushed on.

"Amara Sennen was a beautiful woman, in many ways. She was tall and willowy with hazel brown eyes that surveyed the world with a kindness few could dream of possessing. She had a way of seeing past the lies and masks that people put up within court and, indeed, around any nobles. It was this quality that made her so fine of a Queen many believed; through her eyes she saw far clearer than the finest nights, it made her an excellent judge and a truly astounding woman." Joey could not stop the fleeting sarcastic thought that Seth seemed to take more after his father than his Aunt. The image of the old woman's face once more seemed to burn beneath his eyelids.

"It was no wonder to any man why the Pharaoh kept her close... but it seemed that there was at least one who saw her wise council and gentle hand upon the Pharaohs arm to be far more advantageous than a mere perfect bride. I remember her as so like my own mother in temperament, though they looked nothing alike, but her gift of seeing truth also made her a dangerous enemy...

_It was many months after that first meeting, Atemu and I – despite our childish antics – had heard nothing more about what my father had been planning to do and, with the determination of children, had long since lost interest. We were sitting in on the meeting, both of us, which was odd. My Father normally found ways of getting the priest hood to accept my presence at the more mundane of the meetings, and Atemu was learning to be Pharaoh one day so he was also not an uncommon sight amongst the councillors. No it was strange because – after one disastrous situation that I won't go into details on – we were deemed to be far too distracting to each other. _

_Amara had protested. The meeting wasn't the usual mundane event that we were permitted to look in on, but a war council. She didn't even like to hear it said like that, she insisted that we weren't at war... that we could still salvage peace without a loss for life. But my father had insisted, and finally convinced the Pharaoh._

"_My lord, we cannot allow for this to continue," Shada's calm and reasonable tone touched the subject delicately; "I can report to you that there have been minor attacks within and surrounding some of the lesser temples. Specifically those on the outer regions of the city." Shada's responsibility had long been the protection of the temples and the priests who guarded them, "and they are getting bolder." _

"_This I know, I have held this meeting so as to hear what solutions my priests and council can offer." The Pharaoh's words held the weight they always did, Aknadin opened his mouth to speak, but Atemu beat him to it, sitting forward slightly to catch the councils' attention. _

"_Father, if I may, but there is something that I don't understand." I'd never seen my father's face go so red not only at being stopped but also at Atemu's daring. We were nothing more than children, there to observe and to watch, not to question. But the Pharaoh looked at him with a curious glance, seeming to sense that what his son had to say was more than just a child's inability to know when to hold their tongue. _

"_Speak my Son."_

"_Thank you, father." Atemu said graciously, before he turned to the court in general. "I feel like there is something missing here, I mean, why?" He stopped, seeming to have difficulty expressing what he thought. _

"_Why what boy?" Councillor Abasi jumped in then, his usual abrasive tone made me jump. The Pharaoh's glare was enough to silence any further comments._

"_Why what Atemu," Amara prompted gently and he seemed to regain his ability to speak and flashed a small smile to his mother._

"_Why now, what has happened to start the uprising, and the desertions, what motivates them. Everyone can't have spontaneously given up, what are they rising against? What caused this to start?"_

_The Pharaoh looked startled at this, and turned to his advisors for their response. Predictably it was Aknadin who spoke up. "The cause is not what we should be worrying about, if we have people knocking at out gates we should be speaking of solutions not problems we are already suffering for."_

"_But how do you intend to find a solution when you know not the problem you are solving." Amara spoke, her voice calm and steady, the logic of her thinking radiated from her. "My Son raises a good point, one we have not addressed. If these people are motivated by more than actions within Kehmet we may yet be able to reason with these people."_

"_We cannot reason with them, it is impossible." Abasi insisted once more, his agitation seemed to grow as the minutes passed by. "The simple fact that there has been no catalyst shows that they are unreasonable–"_

"_You will not speak to my wife in that way!" The Pharaoh's voice was harsh and strong, but he didn't shout. It was a weak ruler that resorted to shouted commands and intimidation for respect. Yet Amara had never been one to let others defend her._

"_Councillor, no act occurs without reason, even if it cannot be seen, an action must have been done for a reaction to manifest." Her smooth silken tones seemed to enrage Abasi all the more, but Aknadin stilled him with a gentle hand. _

"_Her majesty the Queen is quite right, but the time for talking is past. We need to act now before lives are lost. Otherwise we will find ourselves unprepared for when they strike and we will be merely handing Kehmet to them on a platter."_

"_Dear brother, why do you protest so much, Kehmet needs not War to ravage her, we must keep her safe, you–" _

_But we never heard what my father was, as her voice was silenced. An arrow seemed to just appear in her chest. I couldn't see much after that as the guards converged around the Pharaoh and Atemu, Isis was by Amara's side working to save her. Aknadin pushed me below the table all I remember from that is the screaming, both Atemu's and his father's. I would remember that sound to my dying day, the anguish as they lost a mother, a wife, and one of Egypt's greatest Queens..._

* * *

"My father was never the same after losing her," Atemu said softly. Absently Yugi reached up to brush away the tear that had formed there. Atemu looked at him in surprise, not having realised the tear was there. There were very few people that Atemu would show such emotions before. He had not lived so long as a king by wearing his heart on his sleeve and spilling his life's story to anyone who'd listen. Yet he felt secure in this boys presence, young though he was he listened with an understanding of one much older.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, the puzzle at his chest seemed to throb in sympathy at the plight of the king before him. "I could never imagine losing someone in such a way," Yugi gulped slightly before continuing, "my Grandfather died not long ago, it was a heart attack... much less violent, but I know what it feels like to have someone ripped so cruelly from you." Yugi recoiled into himself slightly at recounting his Grandpa's death, but he felt the need to make Yami understand that he could empathise.

Atemu looked at him then with a curious light in his eyes, "and your parents, where are they?"

Yugi turned away with a slight blush on his face, they were supposed to be talking about Atemu, how had this become him spilling his own guts. "They died when I was very young." He said shortly, "I don't really remember them, all I know was that my Grandfather decided to take me home from–" he stopped, realising that the man before him would have no concept of what a hospital was, "... from the doctors, I was only been a year old. And mum and dad decided to drive home" this time Yugi barely chocked off a sob as he realised that something as normal as a car accident now meant nothing where he was, and he felt a huge wash of homesickness hit him and he absently touched the sand beneath him, wishing for the first time in his life to be surrounded by the concrete landscape of his home land. In the empty nothingness of the desert he felt extremely small.

"We were talking about your parents though," Yugi said suddenly in a clumsy move to turn the conversation back to its original purpose. "What happened to your father after that?"

It was Atemu's turn to pale with the fear of memories long since past. "We mourned my mother, what else could be done. The fear and anxiety that surrounded her death meant that we couldn't even give her the honour of a proper mourning period. Everyone was on edge fearing what would happen now that first blood had been spilt.

"We had barely sealed mother in her tomb when Aknadin approached father once again. I was there beside him. He said that the ritual needed to be completed, it was our only option left... I'll never forget the haunted look in his eyes as he responded, nor the words he spoke. 'You want me to make one hundred families feel the pain I now suffer?' he said it like it was the darkest sin possible to commit. 'Blood has finally touched the ground and you wish to soak our hands in it.' But Aknadin persisted, he said that he'd found a way to complete the ritual with less sacrifices, using the souls of criminals who, with their stronger Ka, would require less deaths.

"I remember pleading with my father, telling him that mother had been right. That we needed to use reason, not to fight. But he didn't listen to me. He agreed to Aknadin's proposal with barely another thought... he said 'the time for talking is over, they have started this war... and I will end it.' That was it, no more was said. And from that my uncle went on to commit the greatest crime that Kehmet has ever witnessed."

Atemu looked down in shame. His normally burning crimson eyes had now cooled to reflect the dying embers of the fire...

* * *

Please review...


	14. Chapter 13 Betrayals

A/N I AM BACK! Sorry everyone for the massive delay in posting this chapter, the dreadded RL finally caught up with me, however I am proud to announce that I have officially FINISHED SCHOOL! and thus will be back to a more regular updating schedule...

A bit of a warning, the rating has gone up due to some darker themes being explored.

And now for the dreaded "chapter 13" I seriously didn't plan this... I promise.

* * *

Chapter 13 – Betrayals

Bakura's legs had grown numb lying folded beneath him as they were, but he had no inclination to move as haunted memories rose to the fore of his mind. Seth had said he was going to gather what information he had, leaving Bakura once more in the company of his own thoughts. Their screaming faces still haunted his dreams, but he hadn't re-lived that day in so many years... he hadn't let himself.

His mother was a beautiful woman. She had held herself with a grace that few of their lifestyle could muster. Their town had been a small one, just a small collection of hovels really but he'd never seen it like that, to him it was home and the best sort of one at that. He'd never questioned the lessons taught to him by his father, he knew how to lie before he could speak, learnt how to 'hunt,' as his father termed it, before he could walk. At the tender age of ten he could walk down a street with no money at one end and half a dozen purses at the other.

It was a thrill to hold such a power, he knew it, his mother had always told him thus. Yet she had cautioned him about it, about the lure that such powers could have. Bakura almost laughed out loud at the irony of it... a woman who had lived her life teaching her only son to beware his own lust for power, was killed by another man's fear of it.

_He'd spent the day out in the sand dunes, not an uncommon past time for him; Bakura had never been the social type. As the sun began to lower over the horizon he started the long trek back to his village. He remembered admiring how Ra's light seemed to make his city glow, a silly thought, a child's thought... Ra's light did not grace people like his people, people like him._

_The screams were the worst of it, carried on a mocking breeze, taunting him. He was too far to help, yet too close to turn his eye from the horrific sight before him. Instead he watched with a tearing heart as armed men stormed his village indiscriminately hacking, stabbing and killing all they could reach. Men, Women, children, even the new born babes died within their mothers screaming arms. He watched, sickened, as the blood began to stain the walls and ground still littered with the evidence of children playing._

_Above the cacophony of screams he heard another tone, this one deep and rhythmic. Slowly it dominated the skies, penetrating into Bakura's young mind, a constant, repetitive chant. On and on it went until it was all that he could hear. A hand of ice clutched his heart as he realised why... _

_The screams had stopped._

_Every one of those voices had been silenced; his mouth opened and closed dumbly as if his own ability to speak had been taken away along with the lives of everyone he knew, everyone he loved._

_He could only watch now with detached fascination as the blood seemed to rise from the ground and converge about the chanters. Pure and red as if it had just slipped from a silver blade. Slowly the mass formed and reformed, it seemed to be fighting the bonds placed upon it, Bakura hadn't even realised his feet had been carrying him forward until he began to recognise faces within the mass. Bakura fought off a violent urge to vomit as he realised that the mass was not the villagers' blood._

_It was their souls._

_Slowly, the repugnant form began of glimmer and morph until the once crimson mixture turned to a startling gold. The chanting that had fallen into the back of his mind rose once more to a fevered pitch and the great mass began to pour like water into a great stone tablet. Using every ounce of skill that he possessed Bakura crept closer until he could see the crevices of the rock that were being filled. A pyramid, a ring, a rod, an eye, a necklace, a key and a pair of scales each seemed to glow with their own light in the darkness, brighter and brighter until all Bakura could see was white. Everywhere, all around him, inescapable, absolute... horrific._

_Suddenly, the light died, to become an all pervading cloak of inky black._

_It was the faintest taste of burning flesh amongst the acrid smoke that reached him. He awoke to find himself still on the dune from which he had witnessed his nightmare, yet it seemed that the fates were not yet finished in their torment. He felt what little remained of his heart break and weep at the still smouldering remains of his life. Steeling himself he rose to his feet and slipped carefully into the village. The smell of death pervaded no matter where he turned, he touched the blackened walls of his home, bent to shift the ashes from the floor of his sisters bedroom and withdrew a golden object hidden amongst the remains. He recoiled slightly as flashes of the grotesque mass assaulted his vision; the object fell from his hand shedding its coating of soot as it collided with the hard wooden floor._

_Trembling hands scooped up the object before him as his eyes deciphered the symbol emblazoned on the front. The shattered pieces of his heart hardened with a flash of blinding rage. With gall he recalled his helplessness the night before and to himself he swore that he would rectify that mistake._

_With a cry of rage the sole remaining voice of Kul Elna threw his challenge at the gods themselves and vowed to accomplish what no mortal should ever wish._

_He would kill the Son of Ra himself... kill the Pharaoh. _

#####################################3

"Wait, come on," Yugi interrupted with a sceptical look, "now you're just making it up, how could you possibly know that?" They had been travelling for a full day with their entourage, who informed them that they were another days ride from the capital. Having finally set down to rest once more, Atemu had continued his tale where he left off.

Atemu's icy glare quickly cooled his warm humour, "because he told me so, when we first met." Inexplicably a fond grin flashed its way across his face, "Well I say _met_, but I wouldn't call it your standard form of introduction...

_I was in the market place alone, contrary to my Fathers expressed wishes. He had become so paranoid by then. I supposed, had I been any older I would have been far more sympathetic to his anxiety. Having already lost a wife, I can only imagine the fear that would have plagued him about losing his only son. But all I saw was him giving up; he became the man who had forsaken my mother's memory mere hours after the final farewell. Not a father bereft of love, and caught within an impossible choice._

_I've never been as scared as when I saw his knife. He was just a boy, not more than two years older than me, but with the hair of an old man, and his eyes... they reminded me of Father, haunted by thoughts of darkness. I don't think he realised who I was, otherwise he would have killed me on the spot._

"_Who are you?" I asked, trying to distract him as I reached for my sword – I may have been angry at my father but that didn't mean that I had turned into a complete idiot._

"_I don't really think you're in a position to argue kid." The boy had replied, his grey eyes seemed to hold no pity within them, as if they had died. "I'd rather not make a scene but truly if it'll be quicker I could kill you if you choose." His voice was callous, uncaring, but it was his youth that betrayed him. After you kill someone, a man is never the same; there will always be something within their eyes – a line that has been crossed, a deed that could not be undone. _

_As it turned out he had only seen the finery of my cloak, and he needed a disguise and money – both of which I had. But I gave them to him at a price._

"_Where are you bound if you need something so fine?"_

_The boy shifted uneasily before a dark shadow breezed across his face. "I am here to repay a debt." He replied simply._

"_To whom?"_

"_WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU!" The boy snarled, his anger flashing to the surface. It occurred to me how unbalanced he might be, in the few minutes I had known him he'd changed his mood no less than five times, and each had been turbulent and totally new._

"_Because I can help you." _

_I had spoken without thinking, but something pushed me to trust this youth. I guessed he needed access to a nobles home – for anywhere else the cloak would have stuck out like a sore thumb. I told him I was the son of a high ranked noble, that – if he would tell me the reason why – I would gain him entrance to where it was he needed to go. _

_It took a little more convincing than that, but eventually he told me... he told me everything._

_The village was a thief's hideout, as it is know in the courts, rank with all sorts of unpleasant characters. But when he spoke of the children, when he spoke of their screams, I saw red!_

_I my mind's eye I could see Aknadin speaking to my father, _lying_ to my father. He had simply done what he deemed necessary, and thrown the permission of the Pharaoh into the bargain for naught but his peace of mind. _

_With a sick jolt I thought of the cursed items that snake had presented not days ago, and the joy with which we had received them. I knew the pyramid shaped pendant, it had been the one presented to my father; as we spoke the priests were training with them extending their control of the power they afforded._

_I told him that I would not stop him, only if he would give his word to hear the Pharaoh out, I thought that if I could prove what Aknadin had done then we could end this, or...at least make it _right! _I arranged to meet the boy outside of the palace gates after the moon had set and we parted ways..._

"It's funny how one thing can lead to another, if my father had never ordered that attack, I would never have been mad at him, Bakura never would have left his home, father would never have banned me from sneaking out and we would never have done what we did..."

Yugi was silent; it was the only reply that he could give.

##############################3

"Atemu found me in the temple I had been assigned to oversee, he told me everything and what my father had done." Seth's eyes looked up to lock with Joey's; they sat once more in the dusty archives. More scrolls had been unearthed and Joey had, through the process of the day, managed to order them chronologically. Seth's gaze drifted back towards the papyrus that surrounded them, attempting to hide the grievous pain that was buried there.

"I was furious," Seth continued, "but... it was more than that, for some reason I felt..." He paused once more, unable to voice the jealous thought.

"Betrayed?"

Seth looked up at Joey in shock, steely-blue found impenetrable amber once more, yet again they were harsher, colder, but guarded as well. "Yes" he said slowly. They sat in silence for several moments before Seth returned to his surveying of the scrolls.

"After Atemu had explained to me his plan, I immediately agreed. The sun had long since set and the guards patrolled by lighted torches about the palace, I told him to wait for the boy to show, that I would lure my father to the throne room. I shouldn't have gone. I should have stayed with Atemu. Should, should, should...

_I found him in his office. He had already accepted the responsibility of the eye. It freaked me out seeing _that_ staring at me in the place of my father's gaze. He invited me in, told me to "sit down, make yourself comfortable," all the time looking at me with that... thing. _

"_What is troubling you son?" He asked me. I didn't reply. I could feel the eye probing at my defences, I was a priest in my own right by then, I had some command of magic and the ability to defend myself. Nothing as strong as what the eye could muster, but I wanted him to fight for it. I wanted to see just how far he would desecrate his own son's mind to get the answers he so desired._

_The pressure grew stronger and the fury within my gut began to boil, yet still I waited him out. I knew the moment he had gleaned the cause of the white hot fury within me as he usual impassive coal eyes turned first angry... then afraid._

"_My son, what is it? What has happened?" He said again, a slight tremor to his voice, I just burst. He knew! He knew what was wrong, and what had bloody well happened! _

"_How could you!" I screamed. I couldn't stop myself. "You are sick! Murderer!"_

_He reached towards me, obviously intent on calming me down, trying to stop the awkward questions as to why his son would shout such things... questions he couldn't answer. I freaked out, "don't touch me!" I shouted cringing away from the taller figure I was now ashamed to call my blood relative. I heard my mother approach holding my infant brother. Her face was taught with anger._

"_Will you keep it down! I just got Mokuba to sleep." My father's anxious gaze shot to my mother before meeting mine, silently trying to convince me not to tell my mother what I knew. What he had done. _

"_Of course my dear, we apologise." Aknadin said stepping forward to place a hand on my shoulder, I jerked violently out of the way and ducked behind my mother. _

"_I said don't TOUCH me!" I snarled. _

"_Seth what...?" My mother asked, baffled by my actions. I looked to Aknadin._

"_Yes father, WHAT? What could you possibly have done that was so terrible?" I sneered at him, pain seeping into my voice, "why don't you tell mother why I don't want your blood-soaked hands on me!" I was shaking, I could no longer stop the words from coming forth even if I wanted too. "Tell her, tell her how you ordered, and then stood by to watch the deaths of ALL THOSE PEOPLE!" _

_My mother was a shrewd woman; she could see how near I was to a breakdown, to simply collapsing from the vicious emotions coursing through me. She bent before me, and placed Mokuba into my hands._

"_Seth," she said softly, "take Moki, and go calm down, why don't you find your uncle in the throne room?" Her eyes begged me to do as she suggested; she didn't want either of her sons to be there, she wanted to keep us safe. I just nodded and went to leave, it never occurred to me that mother herself was in danger. _

_As she stood and turned to face my father my eye caught a glint of steel, just before my father buried the knife deep within her chest._

_Crimson blood fell from my mother in a grotesque fountain, staining not only her own robes but that of the cursed man who took her life, right in front of my eyes._

_I did the only thing I could do, as I stood there with my baby brother in my arms. _

_I ran. _

* * *

MWAHAHAHA! I'll finish there, you know what to do, click the little blue link and tell me what you thought of this chapter, reviews are appreciated as I was very unsure of this chapter, writing it was like getting blood out of a stone -_-

Particular problems was Bakura's story at the beginning, and Seth's confrontation with his father... Please let me know what you think.

See ya next time  
- Phoenix


	15. Chapter 14 How to Kill a Shadow

Whoo, hoo! I have FIXED IT! For any of you who checked my profile you can ignore the notice that's there I managed to fix up my account - apparently my email and had a disagreement and so locked me out of certain capabilities -_-'

I am sorry for the HUGE delay, I wanted to have this up for christmas but you'll have to settle with "boxing boxing day" as my friend calls it...

A Big thank you to behind you who's review alerted me to the fact that my profile is FIXED :D

Another huge thank you to all those who have reviewed and waited patiently for me to update - I've made this a long one for you...

* * *

** Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood  
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather  
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,  
Making the green one red.  
** - Macbeth; William Shakespeare

Chapter 14 – How to kill a shadow.

_Bakura slinked through the empty courtyard. The fine cloak that had been given to him worked far better than he could have imagined, walking confidently with his shoulders straight he blended perfectly with the higher class style of this area. His old plundering mind started to calculate how much heavier these purses would be than the standard thoroughfare his father had taught him on, and how proud he would make him if he could have seen how far he'd gotten._

_He caught himself with a jolt, when he realised that his father was no longer here, none of them were, there would be no one to show his conquest off too. No one would care. _

_The bitter thought churned his stomach as he recalled with chagrin that the only person still alive he could even count on was the bizarre noble he had met that afternoon, the one who had somehow convinced him to impart his tale. That youth had vowed to help him, something Bakura hadn't expected. He'd never known a noble with a conscience, and had been secretly relieved that he hadn't had to kill him to achieve his goals. It would have been a loss to take one of the few who didn't squander the power given to them by their privileged lives._

_Bakura started as the object of his thoughts appeared from around the corner, spotted him, and approached him, a look wary recognition on his face._

"_You came," Bakura stated, somewhat surprised, he had arrived a little earlier than planned, the moon – though low in the sky – could still be seen on the horizon. _

"_Before I help you, I want your word that you will hear out what the Pharaoh has to say." The boy began, his eyes determined._

"_You can't be serious about that!" Bakura hissed. "You honestly expect me to walk in there and just have a little chat? This is the man that slaughtered my people-!"_

"_I don't believe he would." Atemu cut him off._

"_I BEG your pardon?"_

"_I just... believe... that you should hear out what the Pharaoh has to say, he may have many faults but he is an honest man, I don't believe that he ordered the attack on your village."_

_Bakura looked at the kid like he had two heads._

"_Don't you think enough innocents have died." He continued softly, his voice bitter and far to aged for one so young. At this Bakura could only nod._

"_But how can you guarantee that he will hear me out."_

"_Just trust me that I can."_

_With that Bakura had to be satisfied as the younger boy turned towards the palace gates, upon seeing who he was the guards cleared the way for the two youths leaving Bakura to wonder who exactly his companion was._

_Unnoticed by any, a faint shadow slipped in behind them._

* * *

_Aknamkanon sat wearily upon the throne, the new weight of the Millennium Puzzle a constant reminder against his chest. His councillors continued to debate what their first move should be, given the new strengths added to them through the items. Uncomfortably Aknamkanon's gaze drifted towards his brother's empty seat, Aknadin should have been there for such an important meeting. Not only were his standard entourage of priests and various councillors present, but also elected leaders and high born nobles from some of the more outlying cities and townships. _

_He had called the meeting to provide some amount of comfort to his people, it was the most effective way of reliably spreading word of the new capabilities that the items provided. He also wanted to gain a larger picture of what was going on. Something his son had been insisting that they need, and he was beginning to wish he had heeded the boy's words earlier. _

_The image that was being painted was not good. _

_Many of the nobles and headmen present had come with reports of more temples that had been destroyed, and villages attacked. Always the stories seemed larger than life as if someone had been pushing the details, blurring the facts. Monsters similar to those discovered within the shadow realm had been reported far too many times and far too accurately to be able to attribute their existence to the mass hysteria that had gripped the nation. _

_Those present from merchant towns – littered up and down the River Nile – had reported blocked trade routes, an increase in general crime rates as well as rioting in several of the towns. Aknamkanon was starting to get a headache just from the number of reported cases. It was as if the whole country had gone crazy!_

"_The latest reports that I have for Shadows location is to the north near Jerusalem, they've been feeding off the supplies to and from Memphis.*" Abasi provided, as head of the newly formed intelligence network, many of the reports presented had been passed through him._

"_Memphis? We have had reports of Shadows movement over the entire span of Egypt" Shada exclaimed, "how is it he is able to keep control over such a large area." Anxious murmurs _

_Anxious murmurs fluttered throughout the room. Every man present could appreciate the scale of such a feat – and the danger of such a cohesive enemy._

"_Do we know how this man is achieving this?" A small town official asked, his slight Lower-Nubian accent showed his origins to be the southern border of the country._

_Abasi sat forward, his expression flustered, he fingered the rod within his hands nervously. "We don't have any truly viable reports as to how–"_

"_Those we have captured were under the impression that their leader – Shadow they called him – was among them in their camp." The official spoke again, this time there was no mistaking the Nubian accent, the heavy set man had leaned forward slightly as he spoke making clear the darker skin and broader features of their southern neighbours._

_More muttering broke out, and Aknamkanon could empathise with the panicked tones around him. It was not possible for this man to have traversed the length of the country in such a short period of time. Others stepped forward now, making similar claims as that of the Nubian._

"_My Pharaoh," it was Shimon who spoke, so far having remained silent for the proceedings, the Priest of the Scales held the attention of the whole room. "I believe that this... Shadow I believe you were calling him, is playing upon our fears. He's been fighting this war with his words."_

"_How so?" Aknamkanon asked, intrigued by the concept. _

"_Rumours of impossible feats, nuisance attacks, bold targets but they always choose lightly defended ones," He turned his gaze towards Shada who was twisting his item, the key, within his hands, "the temples, they are not protected by any large amount of armed forces, merely the respect that they derive from the people. It makes them excellent symbols to attack, and it is obvious that out enemy cares not for the dangers of invoking the gods wrath."_

"_You're suggesting that he is a foreigner?" Mahado queried, about his neck the Millennium Ring gleamed dully, "if he fears not the gods then he would have his own set of beliefs that he adheres to."_

"_Beliefs outside of those we understand," one of the elders put in._

"_And can predict," added another. Mentally Aknamkanon noted those who had spoken, one of them, an Author Hawkins, he knew was a close acquaintance of Shimon's. The other,__Karim, governed one of the towns that had been destroyed. It would do well for the future to know men who were able to draw conclusions so astutely. _

"_It matters not where he comes from!" Abasi cried, and Aknamkanon repressed the urge to sigh and alleviate some of his waning patience. Truth be told, had it not been for his newly ordained Priest of the Rod they would have broken for the night several hours ago._

_There was a loud commotion outside the doors. Glad of any reason to prevent what he was sure would be a long and ultimately pointless list of reasons as to why an idea of the background of their enemy would be a bad idea, Aknamkanon stood to investigate. _

_Atemu and another, older boy finally managed to push their way past the guards. The older boy snarled upon seeing the Pharaoh standing so exposed and vulnerable. He darted forward drawing one of the many daggers he had hidden on his person, Atemu having expected this grabbed at Bakura's arm, halting his attack._

"_You promised to hear him out." Atemu reminded him. Bakura looked mutinous for several seconds before his shoulders slumped in defeat. Soldiers swarmed forward intent on taking Bakura's weapons. Aknamkanon turned to his Son._

"_Atemu, who is this?" he demanded, waving away the guards. _

"_Father, this is Bakura Nao (1), he has something very important that you should know about, something that he needs to tell you himself." Atemu said softly._

_Bakura's head snapped to his companion, " 'Father'?" he questioned._

"_Would you have come if I told you who I was?" Atemu retorted, and Bakura ducked his head conceding the point._

"_What is it that you believe I should hear that would cause you to act so recklessly Atemu!" Aknamkanon scolded, but his son's eyes were firm and clear. He knew that this was no impulsive act of youth. _

_In reply Atemu looked to Bakura, "tell him." He said simply, and Bakura did. He told them everything from what his town had been to the terrible screams that had echoed through the clear desert night. He spared no details as he painted his tale of condemnation, before finally withdrawing the helmet of the Pharaoh's royal guard._

_The echoing clang of the hollow metal sounded like a death knell upon the stone floors. Silence followed._

_Shimon, stepping carefully bent and retrieved the helmet, cradling its slightly warped shape within his hands. "It is of you guard, my Pharaoh." He confirmed, "however, it bears your brothers symbol."_

_Aknamkanon's face was ashen gray, blindly he fumbled to find his seat. "I gave permission for the raid." He said in a weak voice. "Aknadin claimed that he had found a way to create these items without such gratuitous sacrifice. It was supposed to be done only through the souls of the damned and the heartless... I never thought... my brother..."_

"_None of us ever did, my Pharaoh."_

_Mahado stood, turning to the guards by the door, "where is the High Priest now?"_

"_In his chambers." A weak voice replied from the entrance, for the second time that night all eyes turned to the dishevelled figure that stood there, a fourteen year old Seth, clutching his infant brother to his chest. Both of them were covered in blood._

_Atemu was by his cousins side in moments, "Seth, are either of you hurt?" he asked. Numbly Seth shook his head. _

"_The blood is from mother... she's...she's..." Haltingly Seth attempted to compose himself. A pair of strong arms enveloped him. _

"_Hush Seth, you are safe and so is your brother," the comforting voice of his uncle cut through the boys distraught state. "Now tell us, where is your mother what happened to her?"_

"_She's dead, Fath- Aknadin killed her."_

_Silence pervaded the room as the Pharaoh's form stiffened; he remained crouched protectively over the broken child, his face a mask of furious anger. He looked to the guards by the doors, barely controlling his voice. "Find my High Priest and bring him before me." He ordered. _

"_Yes Pharaoh." They replied, leaving in groups to search the grounds. _

"_Shimon," Aknamkanon called, his voice barely more than a whisper, "take the boys, I don't want them here to see this."_

_Mutely his oldest advisor led the unresisting boys towards the back entrance of the throne room, one used solely by royalty. _

"_My Lord!" The guards had returned, a bloodied and struggling Aknadin in their grasp. "We found him attempting to reach to throne room." Aknamkanon frowned at the timing, he wanted the children far from here before he had to deal with his wayward brother. However an audible gasp from behind him told him that both Seth and Atemu were still there, in the corner of his eye he could see the pale form of Bakura from which he had not moved since entering the room. _

_Putting his concerns to one side Aknamkanon knew he was backed into a corner, the additional members within his council would not take into account the children amongst them... and Aknadin's fate was set. With the crimson blade still within his blood-soaked hand he had – literally – been caught red handed._

_The Pharaoh moved gracefully toward his brother. He drew himself to his full and considerable height. He remained upon the raised dais that was his position of power, looking down upon his once kin. _

"_Brother," he said passively, his eyes were cold, "I have heard and seen many things, but I never thought to see you before me dressed in your wife's blood." Aknadin's face was chastened, his posture submissive, yet anger burned fiercely within his eyes._

_Aknamkanon continued: "You have, in this room as witnessed by those present, been accused and evidenced of committing crimes not only against Egypt by defying my word, but against the Gods themselves in your careless and unholy actions."_

_Aknadin cracked, ripping his arms from the grip of the guards he charged toward his brother. "I gave you a weapon that we could defend ourselves with; I acted to _save _Egypt!–"_

"_AND what of the murder!" Aknamkanon interrupted stopping the vile priest with words alone, his voice dropped to a deathly whisper, the words remaining for the brothers alone. "What of Alena? Did you kill her to save Egypt?" He stepped away once more, the regal mask slipping back into place. _

"_For the crime of murder of a spouse and a member of the Royal Family the sentence is death." He drew his sword. "For the crime of defying the will and law of the Pharaoh, the living Horus, the sentence is death. Finally the crime of acts against the will of the Gods the sentence is death." His sword tip brushed against Aknadin's throat._

"_I give you this chance to clear yourself of crimes and confess yourself so to lighten your heart for Maat (2)" Aknamkanon stated, his voice was cold, his face was set. But it was within his eyes that could be seen the soul-seated pain that his duty caused him. Silently they begged his brother before him to repent, so he would die without his gratuitous crimes to drag his heart down upon Maat's scale._

_Cold steel blue met pleading brown. "I acted only for the good of Egypt and to protect the lands and temples of the Gods being desecrated by these invaders." He lifted his chin barring his throat to his brother in a cruel challenge. "I have nothing for which to repent."_

_Aknamkanon's face fell, before the regal mask returned. "Very well, so let it be said... so let it be done."_

_He drew the sword across the kneeling man's throat, killing him instantaneously._

_No longer able to maintain his regal mask, Aknamkanon crumpled dropping to the limp form before him, his mind denying existence of the crimson pool that was slowly growing beneath him. He wanted to shake the aged body, no seemingly so fragile and small. This was his little brother, the one he was supposed to protect. He cursed himself and his life, agonising grief welled within him as trembling hands cast away the sword that dripped with its accusing crimson._

_A hand touched his shoulder. _

"_It was the greatest kindness you could have given him." Shimon's wise voice counselled. Dimly some still active part of his mind registered that this meant the boys were safely away. Drawing upon reserves of strength he did not know he had Aknamkanon stood, resuming the regal pose of a Pharaoh. He turned towards the prone figure of Bakura. His face held a mixture of satisfaction, discomfort and repulsion at the events he had witnessed. _

_He started slightly as he noticed the Pharaoh's intense gaze was upon him once more._

"_Bakura Nao, as the last survivor of the village of Kul Elna I offer you the chance for retribution." The Pharaoh stepped down from his raised position, placing himself level with the youth. His arms spread wide in an obvious show of his own defencelessness. "If you seek vengeance against me for these crimes then I place myself at your mercy."_

"_FATHER NO!" A voice screamed. Painfully, without turning Aknamkanon knew that Atemu was not long gone from the room as he should have been. A lone tear carved its way down his cheek at the thought of subjecting another boy to witness a parent's death that night, but he could not excuse himself of the foul device that hung around his neck, in his mind's eye he could see the children of the village screaming as his own son screamed. He remembered his own harsh words: _'You want me to make one hundred families feel the pain I now suffer?' _he had not known pain. Not pain like this..._

"_Shimon." He said softly, "You are to become regent until my Son is of age to take the throne. Care for Egypt."_

* * *

_Bakura was stunned. What he had witnessed would stay with him to his dying day. Before him stood the Pharaoh, the Son of Ra himself gifted to all of Egypt to protect and to guide them. He had seen this man bear the terrible weight that such power offered, and he'd seen him wield that power upon his own flesh and blood. For the first time it was struck home to him that the almighty Pharaoh, despite the legends and the beliefs, was a man such as himself. He had had a mother and father before him, and was himself a father, a mortal, human. A human who now stood before him as any other human would..._

_His eye was drawn towards the tear that tracked down the man's powerful face. It did not belong there, not upon the face of one so strong, yet he knew why he wept, Bakura knew the man's pain. He'd heard Atemu's anguished cry, could seen where he was being held by the priest of the Ring, the boy was younger than he, too young to have and he knew his answer._

"_I have had my retribution, my Pharaoh." He said clearly, withdrawing his poisoned dagger from its sheath at his back. "I see no reason to hunt an innocent man." _

_Relief washed through the elder mans eyes, relief and respect at the decision that had been made. "Thank you." He uttered softly, leaving Bakura unsure whether the Pharaoh was speaking to him or the Gods who had spared him. _

_Wearily the Pharaoh turned toward his council, a circle of silent spectators, each awed by the events they had been shown that night. _

"_Perhaps," Karim said, rising from his seat, "we should convene for the night, my Pharaoh, and begin our talks again when we are fresh of the blood that has been spilled."_

"_NO!" Abasi cried. "We must remain until a plan of action is found. Shadow and his army are but days away, we have not time for our own indulgences!" _

_Silence pervaded the room as every eye turned to the distraught councilman. Beneath such scrutiny the blood fled from the councilman's face, too late he realised that in his haste he had let slip more than he intended. _

_Aknamkanon straightened. By sheer force of will he managed to force aside his tumultuous emotions to face the deceptive snake before him. _

"_Councillor, do you not think that this information would have been more useful several hours ago when we were attempting to pinpoint Shadows location." Aknamkanon's deadly tone layered upon the oppressive silence. "In fact it was you who managed to provide the intelligence that Shadow was gathering his army to the north." _

_At an indiscernible action from the Pharaoh two guards stepped forward and secured Abasi. The Priest struggled against his captors, but his small, pampered form paled in comparison to the hardened, well-muscled guards._

"_Shada, use the Key." Aknamkanon's voice was calm and authoritative He had retained his seat upon the throne. _

_The solemn priest stepped forward, the atmosphere about the room was palpable. Aknamkanon was well aware that for many this would be the first demonstration of the power of the Millennium items. Working silently the other Millennium Priests removed the rod from Abasi's terrified grasp._

_Unlike the various onlookers Abasi knew full well the powers of the Millennium Key, able to delve into the private recesses of his mind, and to change it however he chose. He fought valiantly against the guards as Shada approached him, but froze as the cold metal of the item touched his forehead. _

_Silence prevailed for several moments as all those within the room waited with baited breath, all gazes affixed towards the two prone figures._

_Shada moved._

_Turning quietly to bow to his Pharaoh, when he spoke his voice held the faintest tremble of panic. "My Pharaoh, Abasi has turned traitor. An attack was planned upon the palace for tonight, he was given instructions that you were to kept here until the time of the strike. It seems that they did not trust him though, as the time of the attack was not within his knowledge._

_Aknamkanon was on his feet in moments. "Prepare the guards at the wall, they are to capture where necessary. If the rod has been involved innocents may be acting against their wills." The Captain of the Guard nodded and began to send out messengers and guards to prepare the fortifications. The Pharaoh turned to his priests and councillors, his eye resting upon the Priestess of the Necklace. "Isis you know where you need to be, there will be many this night in need of your abilities. Shada, go with Isis, I want the two of you to prepare the healing chambers before you go and head the front-line defences. Use the Key where you can to determine who among their forces are innocents – it should not be difficult._

"_Karim, if I could rely upon you to direct all of our guests to my offices on your right, a set of guards will be stationed for your protection–"_

"_Many of us are armed and able to lend some assistance my Pharaoh." Karim interrupted. Aknamkanon allowed himself a fleeting smile._

"_Very well, please assist the elders to the offices, any of you who wish to lend aid if you would confer with my Captain of the Guard." _

_Aknamkanon surveyed the sudden flurry of movement around him with at critical eye as people did as he bid them, searching for any place that needed his direction. Satisfied he turned to his two remaining priests._

"_Mahado, Shimon I need you both to take the boys, Bakura too, and keep them safe. Stay with them." He stopped at the looks upon the two's faces._

"_My Pharaoh, a regiment of guards would be far more suited–" Mahado fell silent at a gesture from the Pharaoh._

"_Mahado would be well suited to such a task on his own," Shimon put forward, "with the Priesthood diminished as it is you cannot afford to remove us both."_

"_Shimon, I must. I meant what I said before, if I was to die you would act as a regent until my son was of an age to rule, however he will still be little more than a child. I need to know that he will have advisors that I trust, and he will greatly need your wisdom Shimon, and your friendship Mahado. I entrust to both of you my son's safety and that of his rule."_

_Solemnly they nodded moving to do as they were bid. An expectant hush had fallen in the room as the terrible task of waiting began._

_In the distance a bell began to ring. The enemy had make contact._

_A hand tugged at Aknamkanon's sleeve. He turned to find Atemu's worried face looking up at him, his heart broke as he spied the tears being forced back. At only eleven harvests he had never wanted his only son to see what he hat this night. Sadly he bent to envelope the child, tightening his hold as he felt the small body trembling against him._

"_Please father, don't do that again." Atemu begged, his young voice breaking. _

"_Do what son?"_

"_Don't give yourself up like that again, I don't want to be alone, I don't want to loose you like we lost mother." Aknamkanon felt a dampness against his chest as his son finally let free the hidden tears._

"_I'll try Atemu. You know that I would never choose to leave you."_

"_Oh how touching." A sneering voice called._

_The Pharaoh whipped around his eyes centring upon Abasi and the lecherous smirk that was painted across his face. But it was not he who spoke. Casting his gaze further a lone figure appeared in his vision resting atop the superfluous carvings about the skirting of the vaulted ceilings._

_He pushed Atemu back, placing himself between his son and the gaze of that black eyed fiend._

"_Atemu go with Mahado." He hissed softly._

"_Father–"_

"_Mahado, get my son out of here." He felt rather than saw the priest retrieve his son, refusing as he was to break eye contact with his enemy._

"_Oh don't let me interrupt the family moment." The sneering voice continued. "It well may be the last time you see each other."_

_The Pharaoh saw red. Drawing on the raw energy of the shadows he struck, knocking Shadow from his perch. Reacting faster than he would have thought possible Shadow countered the attack still in mid flight, knocking down the powerful Pharaoh and landing balanced upon his feet. _

_The guards were on him as soon as he landed, but his command of the shadows was superb and thick coils of shadows were sent out, thrusting back the room's occupants, and binding them each against the walls. He stood mockingly as the Pharaoh lifted himself once more into a fighting stance. _

"_Is that all you've got Pharaoh?" He mocked as he swaggered forward. His skin was darker than that of the average Egyptian, with cloudy, murky-brown eyes beneath heavy-set eyebrows._

"_How dare you!" Aknamkanon let loose another blast of magic, this time twisting it into a thin tendril that wrapped itself about Shadows neck, with a surge of his own darkness, Shadow sent back the tendril as a wave of shadows that Aknamkanon was forced to deflect around him. Going on the offence Shadow drove forward, summoning a vicious ball of electricity that Aknamkanon had to dive to avoid. _

_Shadow sent another electrical ball, but Aknamkanon was prepared this time, summoning a reflective shield that bounced the ball back at Shadow who barely managed to avoid being hit square in the face. As it was the attack grazed him, sending thin tremors through his back and side. _

_The sounds of battle outside began to fade and grew less frequent, the first worm of worry grew within those murky eyes. Panting he pushed himself to his feet, the shadow restraints weakened slightly, but re-affirmed as he concentrated once more. Yet it was obvious that the strain was beginning to get to him._

"_It seems your forces are not doing so well against my guards." The Pharaoh commented, it took a large amount of self restraint to resist the urge to pant as heavily as his opponent. Truthfully he was just as tired, but to betray that now could give his enemy hope, and resolve – something he must avoid at all costs._

_Shadow launched forward once more, but his attack was far weaker than it had been before, contemptuously the Pharaoh merely brushed his hand to the side, dispelling the attack yet sacrificing much energy to do so. He needed Shadow to give up, and he was throwing his bets in with his ability to maintain this façade to achieve that goal._

_Aknamkanon breathed an unseen sigh of relief as he felt Shadow's power ebb suddenly with despair and, with a brief pulse from the puzzle, his managed to break the restraints. The guards reacted instantly, pinning the exhausted man to the ground._

_Shadow fought valiantly, but the guards were taking no chances. They restrained his arms behind his back and searched the folds of his cloak, withdrawing a copy of the Millennium Rod. A feeble cry of protest escaped the bound man, but all energy seemed to have left him with the loss of his item's support._

"_You have lost this battle Shadow. You cannot win." Aknamkanon stepped forward, sending out another pulse of power to ensure the weakened man remained confined. "Tell us, what did you hope to achieve? Your forces have been decimated by my guards already, and you have already succumbed to the strain of the strength the shadows require. You have failed."_

"_No I haven't." Shadow muttered, softly. His eyes were glazed over, as if he were not speaking his own words. _

"_Pardon?"_

"_I haven't failed." Shadow replied, those murky-brown eyes rising to lock with the Pharaoh's impassive gaze. "Not yet."_

_He lunged._

_A blinding flash of gold bedazzled the onlookers, obscuring what happened next. Onlookers within the throne room felt only a phenomenal surge of shadow magic as two items clashed and fought in a primal battle of the wills._

_A dark cloud encompassed Aknamkanon and Shadow for several moments, until it was broken with an earth-shattering crack. The sounds of battle faded now leaving in its wake the oppressive silence of loss and death..._

* * *

"For several moments everything just froze... until we saw him crumple to the ground, you could hear the faint tinkling of the shattered pieces of the puzzle about his neck. I saw it all, Mahado let me look when we heard father declare it all over." Atemu's eyes had grown distant, he spoke without emotion as facts spilled from his tongue.

"The guards rounded up what was left of Shadow's army, there had been barely twenty of them, after all the trouble they caused, it stung the court greatly to find their numbers so few.

"Shimon became regent as father said, he tried to keep me busy with my studies to take over my father's place. But it was more to keep me from the public eye." He paused, seeming to fight with the emotion beginning to creep into his voice. "Karim stepped forward to join the high council, taking the burden of the eye. After two years, when I had received the double crown, Bakura and Seth each took up the ring and the Rod, whilst Shada as the eldest upon the council took the scales from Shimon and Mahado took the Key..." Atemu's voice faded out once more, and Yugi shifted closer slightly to embrace the older boy – for that was what he was, despite the burdens that he bore – it was so easy to forget that this man was possible the most powerful man in the world in this age.

Atemu fell easily into the embrace as memories of his father's final moments burst through to the surface. "We found out what happened eventually, Shadow had thrown every last reserve of his strength to kill as many people as possible. Father stopped him..." Atemu paused and drew a shuddering breath before continuing.

"He sacrificed himself to save us, and the Puzzle just shattered under the strain. They couldn't find the second Millennium Rod and we figured that is had been destroyed like the Puzzle... it took me years to complete it. Shadow – real name Heishin – was little more than a shell, like he'd been dead even before he'd attacked. His remains were fed to the crocodiles to ensure that he would never make it to the afterlife to walk in the field of reeds with my mother and father.

"Shadow was a man who, in the span of several months had managed to nearly destroy the Royal family, destabilised the Royal court, cast a nation into widespread panic, and he did it all with an army of but twenty men. He showed us the meaning of influence and power, he destroyed villages and temples, terrified my people into believing any rumour he could produce. He brought the shadows to Egypt, and, for better or for worse, that man made Egypt what it is today. If he has somehow come back and for some reason is attempting to collect children with an affinity to the realm then we'd better start praying, because we are fighting someone who has come back from the dead."

* * *

*the capital city of Ancient Egypt

1 - I am playing upon a sense of Irony here... see if you can work it out.

2- The Ancient Egyptian god of Justice, it was believed that when you die you passed through the Hall of Truths where your heart was weighed against Maat's feather. Any ill deeds you had committed within your life was believed to make your heart heavy.

This is just a side note to clarify but each of the items and their respective holders are as follows (I have changed it around somewhat.)

ORIGINAL COUNCIL: _Isis (necklace), Aknadin (eye), Mahado (ring), Shimon (scales), Shada (key), __Abasi__ (rod) and Aknamkanon (puzzle)_

POST WAR COUNCIL: _Isis (Necklace), Karim (eye), Bakura (ring), Shada (Scales), Mahado (Key), Seth (rod), Atemu/Shimon (puzzle)_


	16. IM BACK!

Well well well, I have excellent news for you all.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

(10 months later)

Well you've all been very patient with me but I am back home now, and with a real laptop to boot. So…

IM COMING BACK BABY!

That's right I will complete this story, it may take me another year to do it but by god it will be finished!

I am halfway through writing the next chapter so look hopeful kids, it won't take long.

Until then a sneak preview to draw you in…

_He allowed a rare smile of relief when only Shimon proved to be present. A reaction not shared by his companion._

"_Oji-chan?"_

_Yugi froze in shock. The old man before them... It couldn't be, he had already concluded that he was (somehow) in the past – the half built pyramid had pretty much confirmed that beyond all doubt. But... how? How could he be here? Yugi was torn between running as far away as was humanly possible, and throwing himself into the familiar aged arms of the old man before him. His mind was already overwrought by a mixture of culture shock and fatigue and now, caught between the two conflicting instincts, it chose a middle ground and the boy sank gratefully into unconsciousness._


End file.
